Welcome to Alabama History Day!
Alabama History Day is a history competition for students in grades six through twelve. Students can be sponsored by any teacher. Schools and school districts participate first in school-wide history or social studies fairs. If individual schools do not hold a history or social studies fair/contest, then individual teachers and their students may still participate. The winners of school-wide contests or individual teacher's class contest (1st through 4th place) may advance to regionals. Alabama has three regional contests: Space Region (North Alabama); River Region Contest (Central Alabama); and, Gulf Coast Region (South Alabama). The 1st through 3rd place winners at regionals advance to the state contest. The Alabama History Day Contest is sponsored by Auburn University Montgomery and is held on the campus of AUM each March. The 1st and 2nd place winners in each category advance to the national contest held on the campus of the University of Maryland each June. Alabama History Day is held in conjunction with National History Day.
2009-2010 Competition Theme: Innovation in History: Impact and Change
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Impact and Change
How do I help my students prepare for History Day?
Teachers, parents and students. Below, you will find some helpful links. If these links do not answer all of your questions, please call the State Director, Dr. Karen Riley, at (334) 669-2382, and she will be glad to answer all of your questions regarding the regional, state, and national contests. Remember, history day is not just a day, it's an experience.
Timeline: Teachers begin in the fall of each year by helping students identify a topic that they would like to research and study. Popular topics such as the Holocaust and Rosie the Riveter are always chosen by hundreds of students. One of the best ways to have that special unusal topic is to call the state archives and ask one of the archivists to help you select a topic that is somewhat unknown. Judges are especially interested in state and local topics that have gone un-noticed. Also, you can telephone your local historical society. They are great sources of information about local events and heroes of the past. Students should begin gathering all of the information about their topic in the fall.
December: Drafts of process papers and research papers should be received.
January: Students should bring projects and performances to school for review.
End of January: School-wide contests take place with the top four winners in each category advancing to regionals. If individual teachers are sponsoring students without holding a school contest, the top four students in their class/es in each category will compete at regionals.
February: Regionals are held during February with the top three winners advancing to the State Finals.
Divisional Structure
Students in grades six though eight (6-8) are assigned to the junior division, students in grades nine through twelve (9-12) are assigned to the senior division. In each division, students may compete in any one of seven categories:
- Individual Historical Paper
- Individual Project
- Group Project
- Individual Performance
- Group Performance
- Individual Media
- Group Media
- Website
Sponsoring Teachers
What is a sponsoring teacher? Each student works with a sponsoring teacher who is usually from the student's school. The teacher provides guidance and encouragement during the course of the project.
How to be part of the fun: Contact one of the regional directors or the state director and request a student workshop.
How To Books for Sale by NHD
New this year - Weebly Portal
The Weebly Portal for students competing in the Website category. Just click on the Weebly
link and it will take you to the portal where you can create your website. This new innovation helps students
competing in the website category to stay within NHD competition guidelines.