National History Day

National History Day is an annual competition for students, grade 6-12, where they present their historical research projects to qualified judges at the regional level.

What is National History Day?

Here at Missouri State University, students compete for a chance to advance to state and hopefully from there to the national contest. MSU’s History Department is proud to sponsor History Day in our region. Every year, around 300 students from over 15 schools in Springfield and surrounding areas participate in the contest by designing a website, putting on a performance, writing a historical paper, creating a documentary, or curating a museum-like exhibit. Their projects range in topics from local history to global issues, and are judged by our faculty, History Graduate Assistants, and other qualified members of the community.

Get involved

Upcoming National History Day 

The History Day competition will be held in person on March 3rd, 2023. This format follows the state and national levels. The deadline to register for this event has been extended to 12:00 pm February 20th. All website and historical paper categories must be submitted by this date. Other categories are not required to upload any documents for the event. 

Download contest program

Registration

Teachers and students can register their details as early as November 1 of every year. 

Register now

Contests

Category Submission guidelines Resources
Documentary Upload a single PDF of your written materials (title page, process paper, and annotated bibliography) and insert shareable documentary link from google drive. Documentary checklist
Exhibit

Upload a single PDF of your written materials (title page, process paper, annotated bibliography and exhibit).

​​​​​​​Exhibit checklist

Paper Upload a single PDF of your paper (title page, process paper, annotated bibliography, and historical paper). Historical paper checklist
Performance Upload a single PDF of your written materials (title page, process paper, annotated bibliography, and performance companion worksheet) and insert a shareable performance link from google drive.

Performance companion worksheet

Performance guidelines

Performance checklist

Website Insert your NHDWEBCENTRAL site key. Website checklist​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Review Contest Rule Book

Project exmaples

Learn from these winning entries from previous National History Day Contests.

NHD news

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