Every year National History Day frames students' research within a historical theme. History is more than facts and dates. The annual theme is broad to allow students to explore topics in ancient, world, national or state history. Students draw a connection to the theme by understanding their topic's historical context and significance. The 2022 NHD theme is Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences.
Need some ideas to help get you started? Check out what previous Ohio History Day students have done in the sample projects below.
Documentary
Exhibit
Paper
Performance
Website
See below for brief descriptions of the contest submission procedures for each category. Please note: For full instructions and required guidelines read the Contest Submission Guide.
Websites
URLs for Website entries should be submitted through your contest’s NHD registration site.
Papers
Students who compete in this category should upload their papers to their contest’s registration site. Please note, your original paper uploaded with your registration at the regional level will follow your project to the state contest registration if you advance to the state contest. If you need to edit your paper, remember to upload the updated entry before the registration deadline.
Documentary
Documentary students need to record and save their projects in .MP4 format and their required paperwork as a PDF. These will then be uploaded to your contest’s registration site.
Exhibit
All exhibit participants are required to create a physical exhibit for all regional and the state Ohio History Day contests. We also ask that you take photos of your exhibit and organize them into a slide show as a backup in the event that the contest is not able to be held in person as planned. This backup must be submitted using either this Google Slides or this PowerPoint template.
Performance
All performances will take place live at the in-person contests. Students must also submit a recording of your performance as an .MP4 file. This recording will act solely as a backup and will not be used for judging purposes if the contests are held in-person as planned.
All judging evaluations will be collected, sorted by schools and returned to participating teachers the following school week. Evaluating history is a subjective process, but criteria and methods have been established to achieve fair decisions. Here is a description of how the judging process will work at Ohio History Day:
Use of Evaluation Forms: Each judge will have an evaluation form for the entries they are judging. They are instructed to use these sheets to write positive, critical evaluations of each entry. Written comments are stressed in judging orientation because this is the principal feedback students receive from the event. Click to view the revised 2022 evaluation forms. (For a list of significant updates click here.)
Ratings: All History Day judging decisions are made by the consensus of the judging teams. In effect, History Day judging is a jury process where the judges have to reach a shared conclusion, rather than an arbitrary point system. Ratings vary from one judging group to another. Each set of judges establishes their own standards for ratings. Ratings cannot be compared across different judging teams.
Final Judging: Categories with a single team of judges will have award decisions made by those teams. Categories with multiple teams of judges will have run-offs that will consider the top two-three entries from the initial judging groups. A new set of judges, or a combination from the original teams, will evaluate the final entries and determine state award winners.
Run-Offs: Be advised that there WILL BE judging run-offs in at least the exhibit, documentary and performance categories. We hold run-offs or a second round of judging for any category that has enough entries to warrant two-judge teams. The top picks from each judging team will then advance to a second round. A new set of judges, or a combination from the original teams, will evaluate the final entries and determine rankings.
Counties:
Allen, Defiance, Fulton, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Lucas, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Williams, Wood
Register Here
Coordinator:
Dr. Kara Barr
Bowling Green State University
Department of History
137 Williams Hall
Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
p. 419.372.8643
[email protected]
Contest Date - Sat., March 19, 2022 (Virtual)
Registration Dates and Fees:
Counties:
Ashland, Crawford, Erie, Huron, Marion, Morrow, Ottawa, Richland, Sandusky, Seneca, Wyandot
Register Here
Coordinator:
Jeremy Angstadt
Museum Services Manager
Sandusky Library
114 W. Adams St.
Sandusky, OH 44870
p. 419.625.3834
[email protected]
Contest Date - Sat., March 19, 2022 (Virtual)
Registration Dates and Fees
Counties:
Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Summit
Register Here
Coordinator:
Dr. Mary Manning
Cleveland History Center
10825 E. Blvd.
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
p. 216.721.5722 x1503
[email protected] | History Day at Western Reserve Historical Society
Contest Date - Sat., March 5, 2022 (Virtual)
Registration Dates and Fees:
Counties:
Ashtabula, Geauga, Mahoning, Portage, Trumbull
Register Here
Coordinator:
David Simonelli
Youngstown State University
Department of History | DeBartolo Hall, Room 537
One University Plaza
Youngstown, OH 44555
p. 330.941.1601
f. 330.941.2304
e: [email protected]
Contest Date - Sat., April 2, 2022 (Virtual)
Registration Dates and Fees
2021 Region 4 Winners
Counties:
Carroll, Columbiana, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Stark, Tuscarawas, Wayne
Register Here
Coordinator:
Allyson Carlson
The McKinley Museum & Presidential Library
800 Mc Kinley Monument Dr NW
Canton, OH 44708
p. 330.455.7043
e: [email protected]
Contest Date - Sat., February 26, 2022 (Virtual)
Registration Deadlines & Fees
Counties:
Delaware, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Knox, Licking, Madison, Pickaway, Union
Register Here
Coordinator:
Emily Volkmann
Museums & Programs Coordinator
Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board
Ohio Statehouse
p. 614.466.9335
e. [email protected]
Contest Date - Sat., March 12, 2022 (Virtual)
Registration Dates and Fees
Counties:
Auglaize, Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Logan, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Preble, Shelby
Register Here
Coordinator:
Andy Hite
Johnston Farm and Indian Agency
9845 N. Hardin Rd.
Piqua, Ohio 45356
p. 937.773.2522 / 800.752.2619
e: [email protected]
Contest Date - Sat., March 5, 2022 (Virtual)
Registration Dates and Fees
Counties:
Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland, Warren
Register Here
Coordinator:
Tony Lawson
Cincinnati Museum Center
1301 Western Ave.
Cincinatti, OH 45203
p. 513.287.7000 ext 7201
e: [email protected]
Contest Date - Sat., March 19, 2022 (Virtual)
Counties:
Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Vinton
Register Here
Coordinator:
David A. Moore & Gwen Daniels
Gallia-Vinton ESC
University of Rio Grande, Wood Hall Rm. 131
p. 740.245.0593
e: [email protected] | [email protected]
Contest Date - Sat., March 5, 2022 (Virtual)
Registration Dates and Fees
Counties:
Belmont, Coshocton, Guernsey, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Washington
Register Here
Coordinator:
Dr. William Kerrigan
Muskingum University
112 Cambridge Hall
10 College Dr.
New Concord, Ohio
p. 740.826.8273
e: [email protected]
Contest Date - Sat., March 26, 2022 (Virtual)
Registration Dates and Fees
The 2022 State Contest will take place virtually on Saturday, April 23, 2022.
Qualify for the State Contest? Congrats! Click here to log in to the state contest. Use your username and password that you registered with for your regional contest. For more detailed instructions, please view the State Qualifier Packet. Got questions? Reach out to the Ohio History Day team at [email protected].
Interested in applying for a special award at the State Contest? Nominate yourself through your online registration, AND email us a copy of your process paper and annotated bibliography with a copy of the Special Award Cover Sheet. You MUST send in a full application for EACH award nomination.
All submissions must be emailed to [email protected] by Monday, April 11, 2022. Follow the instructions in the online registration system carefully. See the list of available special awards below.
On Mon., April 25, 2022 we held our live Virtual Awards Ceremony, celebrating all the hard work of Ohio's students! Missed the ceremony? Be sure to check out the recording below. Popcorn and noise-makers are not included, but are highly recommended!
AWARD CEREMONY RECORDING COMING SOON!
The Final Stage! Each year nearly 3,000 students, their families and teachers gather at the University of Maryland, College Park for this week-long event. These enthusiastic groups come from all over the United States, Guam, American Samoa, and affiliates in China, Korea, Latin America and southeast Asia. After spending months researching and preparing their projects, and competing at local and state contests, these students are eager to show their hard work on the national stage. For more information visit: https://www.nhd.org/national-contest.
Virtual Contest Date - Sun., June 12 through Thurs., June 16, 2022
1st Place, Senior Paper
Kindling the Flame of Revolution: Communication and Committees of Correspondence in Colonial America
Student: Michelle Miao
School: Talawanda High School
Teacher: Kyle McGhehey
2nd Place, Junior Paper
Uncle Tom's Cabin: The Key to Understanding the Inhumanity of Slavery through the Power of the Story
Students: Omar Elbadawy
School: Birchwood School of Hawken
Teacher: Joseph Parrino
7th Place, Senior Group Exhibit
Woodstock: Communicating Peace and Love at a Time of Political and Social Unrest
Students: Devin Corrington, Parker Williams
School: Tri-County North
Teacher: Stacy Williams
7th Place, Senior Group Performance
Tinker v. Des Moines: The Student Led Fight For Free Speech
Students: Brendan Zbanek, Mary Basilion, and Zara Braun
School: Shaker Heights High School
Teacher: Joseph Konopinski and Sarah Davis
9th Place, Junior Individual Exhibit
Communicating Through the Centuries: Tu Youyou, TCM, and the Quest to Cure Malaria
Students: Jennifer Song
School: Birchwood School of Hawken
Teacher: Constance Miller
10th Place, Senior Group Documentary
What Hath God Wrought: The Role of the Transcontinental Telegraph in the Plains Wars
Students: Malachy Sullivan and Soham Joshi
School: Independent Entry / Student
Teacher: Tim Morford
10th Place, Senior Paper
A Script of One’s Own: Examining the Storytelling Impact of Nüshu
Students: Felicia Xiao
School: Independent Entry
Teacher: Tim Morford
Equality in History Special Prize
Gloria Steinem and How Communication Shaped the Women’s Movement
Students: Cordelia Vanderveer
Category: Senior Individual Performance
School: Toledo Technology Academy High School
Teacher: Katerina Asmus
Junior Division, Group Documentary
A Misunderstanding Through Silence: How “Mokusatsu” Engendered Miscommunications that Influenced the 1945 Atomic Bombings
Students: Leslie Gimbert, Anna Kunkel
School: Walnut Hills High School
Teacher: Mitchell Perdrix
Senior Division, Individual Website
White Lies: The Propaganda of the Lost Cause
Students: Jaswanth Vandrasi
School: Independent Entry
Teacher: Tim Morford
Junior Group Documentary
“The Gate of Heavenly Peace”: China’s Communication to the World That the Key to Democracy Would Never Open China’s Communist Lock
Students: Cadence Guo, Joshua Sifers
School: Birchwood School of Hawken
Teacher: Constance Miller
Junior Group Website
BASIC: The simple code that powered the PC revolution and inspired all users to communicate with computers
Students: Joshua Chen, Stephen Parrino
School: Birchwood School of Hawken
Teacher: Joseph Parrino
Titanic: The Miscommunication that Sunk the "Unsinkable" Ship and Launched Key Safety Reforms
Students: Nadine Nouraldin, Chloe Leng, Reyna Uechi
School: Birchwood School of Hawken
Teacher: Joseph Parrino
Junior Group Performance
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns - Boldly Marching to Communicate the Vital Need for Women's Suffrage
Students: Ishika Chand, Yara Salam, and Manya Raina
School: Birchwood School of Hawken
Teacher: Constance Miller, Joseph Parrino
Different Dreams: How Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X Communicated their Influential Messages to Troubled America
Students: Jad Alsouss and Manan Raina
School: Birchwood School of Hawken
Teacher: Joseph Parrino
Junior Group Exhibit
Operation Mincemeat
Students: Brandon Eardley, Jaydon Hallis
School: Menlo Park Academy
Teacher: Frank O’Grady
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Script: The Key to Advancing a Civilization and Shaping Today’s World
Students: Daniel Wise, Michael Grobelny
School: St. Barnabas School
Teacher: Judith Darus
Junior Individual Documentary
The Cleveland Free-Net: How a Case Western Reserve University Experiment Opened a New World of Communication
Students: Angela D’Souza
School: Birchwood School of Hawken
Teacher: Constance Miller
Thomas Nast: Fighting Corruption One Cartoon At A Time
Students: Joshua Gordon
School: Birchwood School of Hawken
Teacher: Constance Miller
Junior Individual Website
President Reagan's Speech: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Students: Ethan Chen
School: Menlo Park Academy
Teacher: Frank O’Grady
FDR Fireside Chats
Students: Dae Kim
School: Menlo Park Academy
Teacher: Frank O’Grady
Junior Individual Performance
The Story of FDR’s Fireside Chats, as told by "Deputy President" Harry Hopkins
Students: Jackson Kenny
School: Menlo Park Academy
Teacher: Frank O’Grady
How the Diary of Anne Frank Changed the World
Students: Maddie Suma
School: Menlo Park Academy
Teacher: Frank O’Grady
Junior Individual Exhibit
The Ghost Army: Communication and Deception by the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops
Students: Cehan Ahmad
School: Menlo Park Academy
Teacher: Frank O’Grady
Junior Paper
When Form Began to Follow Function: How Architect Louis Sullivan Changed the Way Buildings Speak to Us
Students: Grady Hogan
School: Blendon Middle School
Teacher: Lisa Patko
Senior Group Documentary
Lucasville: Through the Fence
Students: Juliana Barnhart, Kathryn Stone
School: St. Francis DeSales High School
Teacher: Colleen Mascarin
Senior Group Website
Influenza: The Failed Coverup of 1918
Students: Nicolo Moulhrop, William Lang, Ahmed Lasheen, Jonathan Jacques
School: Shaker Heights High School
Teacher: Sarah Davis, Joseph Konopinski
Publishing Political Perspectives for the Public: Puck Magazine
Students: Nick Luther, Owen Tolbert, Dylan Lamb, and Antoine Staten
School: Shaker Heights High School
Teacher: Sarah Davis, Joseph Konopinski
Senior Group Performance
I Am Not a Weakling: How the Pentagon Papers Altered Communication Between the United States Government and Its People
Students: Maria Krouse, Anna Welsh
School: Shaker Heights High School
Teacher: Joseph Konopinski
Senior Group Exhibit
Communicating in Secret: The Culper Spy Ring
Students: Lillian Toth, Colten Vanwinkle
School: Tri-County North
Teacher: Stacy Williams
Senior Individual Documentary
Everything I Know About Politics, I Learned From Saturday Night Live
Students: Elizabeth Dickerson
School: Maysville High School
Teacher: Lance Mcgee
Communication in Song: How Lady Day Paved the Way
Students: Laila Christian
School: Shaker Heights High School
Teacher: Sarah Davis
Senior Individual Website
Communication During WWII: The Navajo Code Talkers and Their Forgotten Contribution
Students: Natalie Ham
School: Western Reserve Academy
Teacher: Sarah Hogan
Senior Individual Performance
The Sprinkle of Magic Created by Walt Disney
Students: Kaidyn Watson
School: GlenOak High School
Teacher: Angela Wagner
Senior Individual Exhibit
Vox de Commande {The Command Voice}: World War II 69th Signal Division Behind the Battlefield Communication in General Patton's March Across France
Students: Annalissa Hankinson
School: Homeschool
Teacher: Bethany Hankinson
Get Out of Prison Free: How the Red Cross Communicated with POWs
Students: Brianna Wagoner
School: Tri-County North
Teacher: Stacy William
