National History Day
National History Day
Special Prizes for Maritime Projects
National History Day (NHD) is a highly regarded year-long educational program for middle- and high-school students that involves them in a competition to prepare a history project on a designated theme, culminating in state and national competitions.
Each year, more than half a million students, encouraged by thousands of teachers nationwide, participate in the NHD contest. Students choose historical topics related to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research through libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews and historic sites. After analyzing and interpreting their sources and drawing conclusions about their topics’ significance in history, students present their work in original papers, websites, exhibits, performances and documentaries—either individually or in groups.
National Maritime Historical Society offers special prizes for maritime-related projects.
In order to encourage the study of our maritime history, the National Maritime Historical Society offers special prizes for maritime-related projects in 22 states - Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. Don’t see your state listed here? Let us know you’d like your contest to be considered for next year!
For information on your state contest, go to the NHD Affiliate page. For information on participating as a judge, please email [email protected].
Prizes for 1st Place
One each for middle and high school divisions: include a $100 cash scholarship (divided equally for group projects), a one-year membership in NMHS (which includes Sea History magazine), recognition on the NMHS website, and a certificate of achievement. The mentoring teacher also receives a one-year membership in NMHS and recognition on the NMHS website.
Prizes for 2nd Place
One each for middle and high school divisions: include a $50 cash scholarship (divided equally for group projects), a one-year membership in NMHS (which includes Sea History magazine), recognition on the NMHS website and a certificate of achievement. The mentoring teacher will also receive a one-year membership in NMHS and recognition on the NMHS website.
This year's National History Day theme is “Rights and Responsibilities.”
To continue celebrating their 50th anniversary, National History Day's 2025 theme is Rights & Responsibilities in History. This theme invites students to explore important questions such as: Who decides who has rights? Does everyone have the same rights? Who decides the limits of those rights, and why? What led to the establishment of certain rights, and to whom were they given? How have people, governments, or institutions decided what parameters should be set to enforce responsibilities? How are such decisions justified?
The key to this theme is addressing BOTH rights AND responsibilities. These are two powerful forces in history, but one does not work without the other.
These are profound questions! To help students get started, NHD offers useful booklets and videos that provide guidance on the theme, topic selection, and competition rules.
Do you have suggestions for maritime topics for this year's theme? Let us know by emailing [email protected]! Are you planning a project around a maritime topic and want to be considered for an award? Let us know! >>