The content of this post was originally written by Gary Pettit and can be read in it’s entirety by clicking here.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning National History Day® announced the winners for the 42nd annual Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest. More than 600,000 students from around the world competed in five categories: documentaries, exhibits, papers, performances, and websites. Less than 1% of those entries were awarded the opportunity to compete in the national finals at the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest. Competitors represented the top entries from 57 affiliate members, including every state, Washington, D.C., American Samoa, Guam, South Korea, South Asia, China, and Central America. Nearly 3,000 middle and high school students presented their work related to the 2016 theme, Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History.
“The competitors at this contest are some of the brightest students of their generation,”
said National History Day Executive Director Dr. Cathy Gorn. “The work they produce is
astounding in its breadth and scope of historical research. Once again, they amazed myself, the NHD staff, and the judges with their hard-work and creative projects. I want to
congratulate them all for being in the top 1% of History Day projects created this year and
especially congratulate those whose work was deemed the best of the best.”
Founded in 1974 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, the National
History Day Contest was created to inspire students to conduct original historical research. Since its creation, the contest has grown to an international competition with more than 600,000 participants that awards thousands of dollars in scholarships and prizes annually. The theme for 2017 is Taking a Stand in History.
Numerous awards are granted to both students and teachers including the following:
- First-place entries in the junior and senior division’s five categories of documentary,
exhibit, paper, performance, and website are given the title, “National Endowment for
the Humanities (NEH) Scholar” and receive a $1,000 award sponsored by the NEH. - Second and third place entries in all categories receive $500 and $250 respectively.
- One middle school and one high school teacher receives the Patricia Behring
Teacher of the Year Award and $10,000. - Two entries from each NHD affiliate receive an “Outstanding Affiliate Entry” award
sponsored by the National Park Service. - More than 20 special awards are presented for topics ranging from AfricanAmerican
History to World War II. Sponsored by organizations from around the
country, they are presented to outstanding entries in any category. - Three senior participants receive full or partial scholarships from Case Western
Reserve University, Chaminade University, and the University of Maryland, College
Park. These awards are chosen by university representatives.
The full list of winners is available online: https://nhd.org/wp-content/uploads/NHD-Contest-Awards-2016-Release-Winners.pdf