MGA To Host National History Day Regional Contest

Author: News Bureau
Posted: Thursday, February 2, 2023 12:00 AM
Categories: Pressroom | School of Arts and Letters | Faculty/Staff | Honors/Awards

Macon, GA

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Middle Georgia State University (MGA) will host the 2023 National History Day regional contest on Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Macon Campus. This year’s theme is Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas.

MGA is also a sponsor of the event, along with the Bibb and Houston county school districts, Georgia Humanities Council, and LaGrange College. Hundreds of middle school and high school students from around the area are expected to present entries in categories ranging from performances to essays to websites and displays. MGA faculty and staff will be among the volunteer judges.

National History Day is a non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland, that operates an annual project-based contest for students in grades 6-12. It has affiliates in all fifty states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, South Korea, China, South Asia, and Central America.

Beginning as a local program in Cleveland, Ohio, headed by Dr. David Van Tassel, a history professor at Case Western Reserve University, the event grew from 129 students in 1974 to more than 500,000 students in 48 states in 1991, and 700,000 students and 40,000 teachers in 2001.

Today, more than half a million students enter through local contests. They construct entries as an individual or a group in one of five categories: documentary, exhibit, paper, performance or website. Students then compete in a series of regional contests with top entries advancing to state/affiliate contests. The top two entries in each category and division are invited to compete at the national level.

Students planning to participate in the Middle Georgia regional contest must register by Thursday, Feb. 23: https://ga-hdmg.nhd.org/App?f=2db53e30-0f77-4694-a55d-ed1b231a4c6a. 

For more information, contact Dr. Matthew Zimmerman, MGA’s chair of the Department of History in the School of Arts & Letters, at matthew.zimmerman@mga.edu.