The 2020 Virginia History Day state contest, scheduled to take place at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture April 25-26, will now move to a virtual format.
Virginia’s History Day program, coordinated by the VMHC, is the state affiliate of the National History Day program. Similar in structure to a science fair, but for history, National History Day is a project-based program focused on historical research, interpretation, and creative expression for 4th to 12th grade students.
By participating in NHD, students become writers, filmmakers, web designers, playwrights, and artists as they create unique contemporary expressions of history around a yearly theme.
This year, the theme is Breaking Barriers in History. The experience culminates in a series of contests at the local and state levels and an annual competition.
Virginia History Day reaches over 8,000 students each year around the Commonwealth. The state is broken down into eight districts, representing every geographic region of Virginia.
Winners from each district contest are invited to compete at the state level. The state contest sees approximately 300 students from every region of Virginia competing for a chance to enter the national contest, held in June. The national contest is also being moved from on onsite to virtual format.
Even though the state contest will now take place digitally, the VMHC is committed to providing an opportunity for Virginia History Day students to continue their academic scholarship, receive the feedback they deserve, and showcase their hard work during these challenging times.
VMHC staff will remain available throughout the process to assist students, parents, and teachers with this change. This commitment is unique at this time, as most extracurricular competitions and activities around the country have been cancelled.
The new deadline to register for the state contest will be April 17th. By that date, qualifying students must upload a digital version of their project to the state content registration page (va.nhd.org).
Guidelines on what to include and how to upload submissions can be found on va.nhd.org, as well as the Virginia History Day page on the VMHC website.
Due to guidelines stipulated by the NHD office, no student interviews will be conducted as part of the virtual judging process. Judges will digitally review students’ projects between April 23rd and April 30th. State contest winners will be announced on May 4.
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