Howard County History Day to be Judged Virtually, Winners Announced April 10, 2020

March 27th, 2020

National History Day is a program and competition for middle and high school students. It is a collaborative effort among students, teachers, media specialists, libraries, colleges, and universities conducted at the school, county, state and national level. This year in Howard County, 3,517 students worked on projects and close to 300 students were scheduled to participate in the county level competition that was scheduled for March 14, and postponed due to the state-mandated school closures. This year’s theme was Breaking Barriers and students have completed work in researching historical people, events and topics that changed history by challenging the status quo. In order to honor the work and time our students put in to this, and following the guidelines provided by the state and national levels of the National History Day competition, HCPSS will hold a virtual Howard County National History Day competition.

At this point in the year, all participating students have done the work necessary to compete. This will provide students an additional opportunity to receive feedback on their work, without any requirement for in-person or live presentations.

Between now and April 6, History Day judges will review projects virtually in order to evaluate submissions and determine who will represent Howard County in the Maryland History Day competition in May. Students in the historical paper, website, and documentary categories already have submitted their work. Students in the exhibit and performance categories will receive directions on how to submit their projects for judging in the coming days. On April 10, winners of the HCPSS competition will be posted on the HCPSS website. More detailed information regarding the competition will be shared with teachers and their students in the next few days.

All those interested in judging may email Kelly_Reichardt@hcpss.org. All other questions may be emailed to Debbie_Blum@hcpss.org.