Richmond, VA - The Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC) is pleased to announce the successful completion of the 2021 season of Virginia History Day (VHD). Over the past school year, students have created unique historical research projects related to the theme Communication in History: The Key to Understanding. Despite the many pandemic-related challenges the education field faced this year, over 48 public, private, and homeschool teachers helped more than 300 elementary, middle, and high school students create papers, exhibits, documentaries, performances, and websites. These participants came from all across the Commonwealth, including Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, Central Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, and the Blue Ridge Highlands.

Virginia History Day is the state affiliate of the National History Day program. Similar to a science fair, but for history, the National History Day Contest was founded in 1974 to inspire students to conduct original historical research. Since its creation, the contest has grown into an international competition with more than half-a-million participants and thousands of dollars in scholarship awards and prizes annually. “Creating a project for the National History Day Contest is challenging. It requires hard work and dedication. But, it also provides great reward,” said Dr. Cathy Gorn, National History Day® Executive Director. “The skills of conducting research and recognizing credible sources are crucial to increasing civic engagement in young people.”

            In February and March, after creating their projects, students entered into their local VHD District Contests. These contests are organized by the VMHC’s regional partners, including George Washington’s Mt. Vernon, the Office of Historic Alexandria, Fairfax County Public Schools, John Tyler Community College, the Sons of the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Radford University, and Central Virginia Community College. Due to the pandemic, all of these contests were held virtually. Dozens of volunteer judges viewed and evaluated the students’ work and ranked projects in each category. Those students that placed in the top 4 at their District Contest were invited to compete in the VHD State Contest.

            The VMHC organizes the VHD State Contest, which took place virtually between April 16 and May 4. This year, 223 students overcame virtual learning, closed libraries and archives, and technological obstacles to create projects on a wide variety of topics, including carrier pigeons, Navajo code talkers, the Cold War, and everything in between. These projects are available to view online via a Virtual Showcase, linked here. Over the course of two weeks, over 80 volunteer judges, including public school teachers, college professors, and museum professionals, viewed and evaluated the students’ work. In addition, students were eligible to win special awards with cash prizes for studying a specific historical topic, such as women’s, naval, African American, or medical history. Each of these young scholars demonstrated a remarkable dedication to the study of history.

            Winners of special awards and the top projects in each category were announced during a virtual award ceremony, which can be found on the VMHC’s YouTube channel and Education Facebook page. U.S. Senator Tim Kaine and NHD Executive Director Cathy Gorn provided keynote remarks. The top 2 ranked projects in each category are eligible to enter the NHD National Contest, which takes place virtually in June. The National Contest sees over 3,000 student participants from every state of the country, plus international students from SE Asia and Europe. We are confident Virginia’s students will do well.

###

The Virginia Museum of History & Culture is owned and operated by the Virginia Historical Society — a private, non-profit organization established in 1831. The historical society is the oldest cultural organization in Virginia, and one of the oldest and most distinguished history organizations in the nation. For use in its state history museum and its renowned research library, the historical society cares for a collection of nearly nine million items representing the ever-evolving story of Virginia.

The Virginia Museum of History & Culture is located at 428 N Arthur Ashe Boulevard in Richmond’s Museum District. Hours are Monday – Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for the galleries and museum shop, Monday – Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for the research library. For more information call 804.340.1800, visit VirginiaHistory.org, or connect on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.                                            

###