Each spring, students may enter their work into local National History Day (NHD) contests where it will be judged by professional educators and historians. If their work is chosen as one of the best, it will move on to the state’s NHD contest. Winners of the state NHD contest are eligible to attend the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park in June.
The American Labor Studies Center (ALSC) annually sponsors an NHD Gold Medal Prize ($1,000) for the best entry on American labor history. It also offers a $150 prize for the best junior and senior entry in the New York State Contest held in Cooperstown.
Each year’s contest has a theme. The theme for 2015 is Leadership and Legacy in History. There are numerous examples of this theme in the history of the American labor movement at the local, state, national and international levels. A legacy is something that has an impact on society and change over time such as fighting for the fundamental right of workers to organize and bargain collectively, advancing laws that improve the lives and working conditions of workers or promoting democracy and workers’ rights around the world.
