Competitions

Bedford History Day

Program Description

National History Day (NHD) is an annual initiative designed to promote the teaching and learning of history. NHD is an exciting way for students to study and learn about historical issues, ideas, people and events. The core of the program is a nationwide National History Day competition. Each year, NHD provides a theme around which students conduct historical research. Ultimately, students present their research in one of five categories: documentary, exhibit, performance, paper or website. Students may choose to work individually or in groups of up to five.

History Day at Bedford High School

At Bedford High School, the NHD experience begins as a class project in high honors U.S. History II classes. Between September and January, students engage in the process of discovery and interpretation of historical topics related to the NHD theme, while honing their creative talents producing original presentations. Those projects are publicly presented at the Winter History Fair in late January. From there, some brave souls choose to continue working on their projects as an extracurricular activity with the intention of submitting those projects in the NHD competition.

The National History Day Competition

National History Day has multiple levels of competition.  At each level, projects are judged on historical quality, connection to theme and quality of presentation. The first level is the district or regional contest which is typically held in early March.  Projects that are judged among the three best in their respective categories qualify for the next round competition:  Massachusetts History Day (MHD).  MHD is usually held in early April and features the top projects in each category from around the state.  Projects that place first or second move on to the next round:  National History Day.  The NHD competition is hosted by the University of Maryland, College Park in mid-June.  There, students from around the country put their projects up against each other in the final round.  First, second and third place medals are awarded in each category as well as several special awards and a few college scholarships.

Bedford High School has been competing in the NHD program since 2004.  In that time, we have established ourselves as among the strongest programs in the state and have had several winners at the district, state and national contests.  Additional information is available on the Massachusetts History Day and National History Day websites.

2023-2024 Competition Dates

Massachusetts Regional Competition
Sunday, March 10th, 2024
Leicester High School

Massachusetts State Competition
Saturday, April 6th, 2024
Winchester High School

National Competition
Sunday, June 9th - Thursday, June 13th, 2024
University of Maryland, College Park, MD