National History Day is a competition in which half a million students participate, including eighteen from our school last year. Last year six projects won awards at the regional level, two won at the state level, and one went on to compete at nationals. You could be one these students this year.

The theme for National History Day (NHD) changes annually. For the 2010 theme, it was “Innovation in History: Impact and Change.” This year its “Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences.” You only need to select a topic that is a debate or a diplomatic event. Debates are arguments, a dispute, or a deliberation. It can be an actual debate between two people (i.e. Luther v. Eck), but also can be issues and ideas that are debated in the public forum (i.e. the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, the ideas in Jean Jacques Rousseau’s Emile). Diplomacy refers to an international event, such as conferences, treaties, or a summit. Successes and failures refer to one side getting what it wants and another side failing to do so. However a success in the short term may be deemed a failure in the long term (i.e. the Paris Peace Conference). Consequences are short and long-term impacts involving history being changed. Your project must be on a topic that is historically significant, and the way to test its importance is to look to the consequences.