2,700 Students Compete For History Day Honors

History and National History Day will announce the 2011 National History Day Award Winners, Thursday, June 16, at Cole Field House on the campus of the University of Maryland-College Park. History, a leading sponsor of National History Day, provides $20,000 in cash prizes to four winning senior student projects as well as the Outstanding History Educator Award presented to an individual who has made exceptional contributions to history education through National History Day . The June 16 awards ceremony will be available via a live webcast on History’s website at: www.history.com/classroom.

The national winners emerge from a field of more than half a million middle and high school students who competed at the district and state levels leading up to the finals.  A record-breaking 2,700 students will present their findings in the form of museum-like exhibits, multimedia documentaries, dramatic performances, web sites or research papers.

A  rigorous, multi-tiered selection process evaluates each project for its historical quality, clarity of presentation and how effectively it addresses this year’s theme, Debate & Diplomacy: Successes, Failures, Consequences, which encourages students to “push past the antiquated view of history as mere facts and dates and drill down into historical content to develop perspective and understanding.”