Manatee History Day

Manatee History Day is the local affiliate of National History Day (NHD), a nationwide contest designed to interest students in history and encourage them to learn about history through primary research. Instead of reading about a historical person or event in a textbook, students are asked to do research in the documents or materials produced during that time period. Students use such things as newspapers, diaries, letters, photographs, government records, and oral history interviews to answer questions about the past. Then, they can choose how they will present their information. Papers, documentaries, exhibit boards, web sites and performances are the five kinds of entries that are accepted for competition. Through research and analysis of their information, students make the past come alive.

2022/2023 School Year

"Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas"

LOCAL COMPETITION INFORMATION

Exhibit Board judging will take place in-person at the Manatee County Fairgrounds.

Performance judging will take place in-person at Manatee Village Historical Park.

Historical Paper, Documentary, and Website judging will take place virtually.

Are you a teacher or home school parent interested in having your students participate?

  Contact history.day@manateeclerk.com to be placed on contest email list.

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Are you interested in being a judge for MHD?

Contact history.day@manateeclerk.com to notify contest staff of your interest.

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Local Contest Information

Manatee History Day is the local affiliate of the National History Day (NHD) program. Every year National History Day frames students’ research within a historical theme. The theme is chosen for the broad application to world, national or state history and its relevance to ancient history or to the more recent past. This year’s theme is Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas. The intentional selection of the theme for NHD is to provide an opportunity for students to push past the antiquated view of history as mere facts and dates and drill down into historical content to develop perspective and understanding.

The NHD theme provides a focused way to increase students’ historical understanding by developing a lens to read history, an organizational structure that helps students place information in the correct context and finally, the ability to see connections over time.

NHD Theme Information: Click Here

Use the NHD Theme Information to gain a better understanding of this year's theme.

TEACHERS and STUDENTS check out the NHD Theme Book: Click Here

The theme book is an excellent resource for teachers and students who wish to explore specific examples of analyzing historical documents and applying topics to the annual theme.

TEACHERS, please note:

You are not required to host a classroom or school-wide history contest.  Please review your student's projects and each participating teacher should select competition ready projects for MHD.

Participating teachers select up to (but no more than) 10 projects per category.

Paper (Individual Only): Select between 0 and 10 projects
Exhibit Board (Individual): Select between 0 and 10 projects
Exhibit Board (Group): Select between 0 and 10 projects
Website (Individual): Select between 0 and 10 projects
Website (Group): Select between 0 and 10 projects
Documentary (Individual): Select between 0 and 10 projects
Documentary (Group): Select between 0 and 10 projects
Performance (Individual): Select between 0 and 10 projects
Performance (Group): Select between 0 and 10 projects

THESE LIMITS WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED.

NO LATE REGISTRATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

MHD Zfairs Contest Management System

The Manatee History Day competition will continue using the online contest management system known as Zfairs. 

If you have any questions about MHD Zfairs, Student Accounts, Teacher Accounts, or Judge Accounts, please contact history.day@manateeclerk.com.

MHD Contest Schedule

Below is MHD's contest schedule.  Please note that some dates may be subject to change.

October 2022

Teachers should review information on MHD Zfairs if they have not already done so, including the MHD Teacher Participation Handbook (available on MHD Zfairs or by contacting history.day@manateeclerk.com).

November 2022

Teachers can begin creating their Teacher Account in MHD Zfairs.  Instructions for how to do so will be sent out by contest staff.  Be sure to sign up for our email list at history.day@manateeclerk.com.

January 27, 2023

LAST DAY to create a Teacher Account in MHD Zfairs.  All Teacher Accounts must be created by 11:59pm on this day.

January 28, 2023

Students can begin creating their Student Account in Zfairs and uploading any required materials. 

Only students selected for advancement to the county competition by their teacher and/or schools should create a Student Account.

February 3, 2023

Exhibit Board & Performance Categories: LAST DAY to create a Student Account in Zfairs. LAST DAY
to upload the PDF containing their Title Page, Process Paper, and Annotated Bibliography in Zfairs.
To err on the side of caution, students should also bring copies of these documents to Exhibit Board
drop off and Performance judging.

Website Category: LAST DAY to create a Student Account in Zfairs. Access to NHDWebCentral
CLOSES at 11:59pm. The Title Page, Process Paper, and Annotated Bibliography should be included
as part of the student’s website. LAST DAY to upload website entry Site Key in Zfairs.

Paper Category: LAST DAY to create a Student Account in Zfairs. LAST DAY to upload the PDF
containing their Title Page, Paper, Process Paper, and Annotated Bibliography in Zfairs.
Documentary Category: LAST DAY to create a Student Account in Zfairs. LAST DAY to upload the
PDF containing their Title Page, Process Paper, and Annotated Bibliography in Zfairs. LAST DAY to
upload their project web link in Zfairs.

February 6 - 7, 2023

MHD staff runs the contest scheduler in Zfairs and sets up contest schedule. Sometimes, technology
glitches and this ensures that staff can address any scheduler issues in a timely manner without
impacting the judging window.

February 8 - 15, 2023

Paper, Website, & Documentary Categories: Judging window. Judging ends on the 15th at 11:59pm.
These categories are judged virtually. No onsite judging requirements.

February 15 - 16, 2023

Performance Category: Judging onsite in the evening at Manatee Village Historical Park.
This category is judged in-person. Performance schedules will go out in February

February 17, 2023
Paper, Website, Documentary, & Performance Categories: Winners and State Team selection for
these categories announced at Noon. Winners and their teachers will be contacted by email.
Winners will also be posted on the MHD Zfairs website and on the Manatee County Clerk of the
Circuit Court & Comptroller website.

February 21, 2023
Exhibit Category: Exhibit Board drop off 3pm to 8pm at the Manatee County Fairgrounds.

February 22, 2023

9:30am Exhibit Category: Judging begins at the Manatee County Fairgrounds.
Judging is in-person. Students are NOT required to be present during judging.

6pm Exhibit Category: Winners and State Team selection for this category announced by 6pm.
Winners and their teachers will be contacted by email. Winners will also be posted on MHD Zfairs
website and on the Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller website.

February 23, 2023

Exhibit Category: Exhibit Board pick up from 4pm to 7pm at the Manatee County Fairgrounds.
Any Exhibit Board not picked up by 7pm will be discarded.

February 23, 2023

7pm: Award Ceremony at the Manatee County Fairgrounds inside the Kendrick Auditorium.
Any certificates or medals not picked up will be dropped off to the student’s school the following week.

8pm: Brief State Team meeting to be held immediately following the Award Ceremony.

May 2023

Florida History Day state competition in Tallahassee, FL.