Student Opportunity: National History Day in Iowa

National History Day (NHD) in Iowa has undergone many changes to comply with state budget restrictions, but thanks to all of the hard-working students, teachers, parents and volunteers, NHD in Iowa is still afloat and is planning for the upcoming contest season. State contests will be held on Monday, April 25, 2011, for the senior division and Monday, May 2 for the junior division. Youth division showcase will also be held on Monday, April 25, in conjunction with the senior division contest.

Instead of physical mailings, information will be distributed primarily via e-mail this year. The 2010-2011 contest theme is Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, and Consequences.

Click here to download the updated 2010-2011 rulebook to review with students before starting projects. One of the most notable changes, the website category, will be split into individual and group categories this year, rather than all websites competing together. That should garner applause from many of the web site participants! Student entries MUST be created through the Weebly portal located on the NHD website at http://nhd.org/CategoryWebsite.htm. Websites created with other programs or on other sites (including the public access to Weebly) will not be eligible for judging at the district and state levels of NHD in Iowa contests.

The “Iowa Sample Topics List” is posted at www.iowahistory.org along with other useful information about entering district and state contests. To find Iowa NHD information, go to the State Historical Society of Iowa webpage, click on “Education and Outreach” at the top of the page and then look for the “NHD in Iowa” tab on the left side of the page.

Questions can be directed to Millie Frese in the NHD office at the State Historical Society of Iowa. She can be contacted via email, millie.frese@iowa.gov; phone, (515) 281-6860; or cell, (515) 868-7248.

For program-related updates throughout the year, join the NHD in Iowa listserv by sending a blank e-mail to join-teacherupdate@lists.ia.gov.