Overview for Tennessee History Day Contestants

Tennessee History day follows the guidelines and rules of National History Day. To familiarize yourself with the contest rules, you may view and download a copy of the rulebook here.


Tennessee History Day Competition Divisions:

  • Junior - Grades 6 thru 8
  • Senior - Grades 9 thru 12

Exhibits Category:

  • Individual and Group (2-5 students) Entries
  • Display no larger than 40 inches wide, 30 inches deep, and 6 feet high when displayed
  • Accompanying process paper: 500 word description of how research was done
  • Annotated bibliography separated into primary and secondary sources
  • Exhibit clearly addresses theme
  • Title is clear and visible
  • Exhibit uses extensive primary source material on the display
  • Labels, captions, and titles include no more than 500 of your own words
  • Quoted sources have no word limit
  • Has visual impact and shows interpretation

Performances:

  • Individual and Group (2-5 students) Entries
  • 10 minute maximum performance
  • Maximum 5 minute set up and 5 minute take down before and after the performances
  • Accompanying process paper: 500 word description of how research was done
  • Annotated bibliography separated into primary and secondary sources
  • Performance addresses the theme
  • Performance incorporates primary source materials

Documentaries:

  • Individual and Group (2-5 students) Entries
  • Students may use slides with cassette, vcr and tv, or non-interactive computer presentations
  • 10 minute maximum presentation length
  • Maximum 5 minute set up and 5 minute take down before and after presentation
  • Accompanying process paper: 500 word description of how research was done
  • Annotated bibliography separated into primary and secondary sources
  • Documentary addresses the theme
  • Documentary incorporates primary source materials

Historical Papers:

  • Individual Entries Only
  • 1,500-2,500 words, excluding notes, annotated bibliography, and title page
  • Annotated bibliography separated into primary and secondary sources
  • Paper clearly addresses theme
  • Citations used in paper
  • Paper incorporates extensive use of primary source materials
  • Organization shows clear focus and progression

Web Site:

  • Individual and Group (2-5 students) Entries
  • Students must build their websites on National History Day's weebly portal at the beginning level of competition
  • Websites may use up to 100MB of file space
  • May contain no more than 1, 2000 visible, student-composed words
  • One page must serve as the "home page"
  • Each multimedia clip may not last more than 45 seconds and may not include student-composed narration
  • Annotated bibliography must be included as an integrated part of the website. Does NOT count toward the 1,200 word limit
  • At competition time, students must submit four hard copies of the homepage, the process paper, and the annotated bibliography