Each year, the National History Day office chooses a historical theme for students to research. The 2021-2022 theme is Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences. The broad theme allow students to select topics that can come from local, national, or international places and from any time period in history.
The DC History Center encourages students to explore topics from Washington, DC and highlights two topics relating to this year's theme of Debate and Diplomacy.
National History Day is a year-long academic program focused on historical research for students in grades 6-12. Students prepare entries using primary and secondary resources and present their original research in the form of a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance or website and compete at a series of contests. The DC National History Day contest is held at the National Archives and the National History Contest is held in June of each year at the University of Maryland, College Park.
