The NHDAZ Program
National History Day in Arizona (NHDAZ) is an engaging academic program that encourages students in grades 4 – 12 to make a history project after choosing their own historical research topic. Students may build their project in one of five formats:
- Documentary
- Paper
- Performance
- Exhibit
- Website
History Day challenges students and in turn rewards them with critical thinking, writing, research, and communication skills. The benefits also go beyond just the classroom as the program contributes to students becoming more responsible individuals.
To learn more about the program or find out how to get involved, explore our website!
NHDAZ Events, Workshops, and Competitions
2026 Theme Book – Rights and Responsibilities
Watch the video!
Learn more on the NHD website.
Learn More about NHDAZ:
Dr. Kristen D. Rex, Allison Avery and Jenny Pennington discuss how museums, teachers, volunteers, and students can get involved with National History Day Arizona, an opportunity to engage students in project based learning, aligning with many Arizona State Standards in ELA/Social Studies, and developing passion for history for students in 4th-12th grade.: https://youtu.be/NykRpJuF3ak
National History Day in Arizona is supported by the Historical League, Inc.
Students
History Day will lead you to dive deep into history and present what you have learned in one of five categories. Every category will contribute to growing your academic skills while also having the potential to be a great deal of fun, especially because you get to choose your own topic!
History Day is going to push you to grow your learning skills while also developing your personal skills. The goal of this website is to give you the information you need to make it through a successful cycle of the program. See below information to get started.
Parents
Parents have the opportunity to see their child develop remarkable skills and experiences by participating in History Day. The parents of History Day students can be crucial to program success. Whether that is providing transportation to events, solving technology problems, or helping a student in a panic about their topic.
Whatever that role looks like, parents are incredibly important to the History Day program. If you’re new to the program, learn more about the History Day and the academic personal benefits of doing a History Day project.
Please note that teachers can adapt History Day to meet their classroom needs. Requirements, deadlines, and grading rubrics will vary across classrooms. If you have questions about any of that information or more project specific questions, you’ll want to reach out to the teacher first. If you have questions about Regional, State, or National level competitions, or about project rules contact National History Day in Arizona coordinator Leonard Moody.
Do you homeschool, or would you like your student to participate in a History Day competition even though their school is not participating? Contact Leonard Moody to be included in all emails sent out about project and competition communication. Once you do that, be sure to check out the Teacher page.
Registration
In order for a student to get involved in the NHDAZ competition, that student needs to register as a participant in our online portal. Our online registration portal is where students register for NHDAZ as well as submit their projects by the deadline. Deadlines will be posted soon but we suggest you begin your work in the Fall.
Registration opens on January 1st, 2026 for all competitions. January 1st is not a deadline. It is just when registration opens. Every student must have a sponsoring adult for them to register. Most of the time this adult is a teacher, however it does not have to be. Any adult can sponsor an NHD student. They just need to register as well. That adult will just need to follow the ‘Teacher Registration Instructions.’ Even though they may not actually be a teacher, they will still register as one in our system to sponsor a student. Keep in mind, if you are a group project, you and your partner(s) need to have the same sponsoring adult register as you and your partner(s) teacher.
If you are a student please see the student registration instructions.
If you are a teacher or sponsoring adult please see the teacher registration instructions.
Keep in mind that none of these instructions should be followed until January 1st, 2026 as that is when registration opens!
History Education Workshops
Why Teach History Day?
Arizona’s chapter of History Day is over two decades old. Every year teachers return, demonstrating its value.
National History Day is an incredible education program with extraordinary benefits, all while being adaptable to your classroom goals. Students learn to develop critical thinking, communication, reading, and research skills and in the process cultivate personal responsibility, not only being a program to advance educational development but also pushing young learners to take accountability for their own success. As an educator there are many unique benefits to be gained from implementing History Day into your classroom. Those benefits include:
- The program provides an authentic assessment that allows students to demonstrate their learning and achieve success in ways that reflect their individual strengths.
- The program’s flexible model allows teachers to tailor projects to fit their classroom goals, curriculum, and instructional needs.
- Students take ownership of their learning by choosing their topics, conducting independent research, and selecting the project format that best showcases their work. History Day encourages student voice and choice throughout the process.
- History Day aligns with state Social Studies and English Language Arts (ELA) standards, making it an effective way to support required learning objectives.
- Students develop essential historical thinking skills while engaging in meaningful, in-depth exploration of historical topics.
If you have questions on how History Day can benefit you and your students, contact NHDAZ coordinator Leonard Moody at [email protected] or call Leonard at (520) 617 – 1142.
Resources
Checklists and Evaluations
Registration
Hear about NHD from a NHD teacher! The following video is a presentation by Ellen Miller of Tempe, who is one of our amazing teachers that participate in NHDAZ!
NHDAZ Results at the National Contest 2026
There were multiple honors for the NHDAZ Nationals Team this year at the 2026 National Competition at the University of Maryland from June 14 – June 18. The following students are those whose projects were honored out of the 37 students who attended the National Competition.
National Contest Placings:
- Nikhil Pandey
- Senior Individual Performance – 9th place in the nation
- Dorothy Zhou & Thanvi Voruganti
- Senior Group Documentary – 7th place in the nation
- Esther Wu
- Junior Group Website – 10th place in the nation
Special Awards:
- Ruhi Rane
- Special Award for Latino American History
- Special Award amount: $1,000
Outstanding State Entry Awards:
- Grahm Hardy & Ziv Shemen
- W. Ira Persons
- Info about the Outstanding State Award:
- The outstanding affiliate entry recognizes strong projects in the state for each division. Typically, the outstanding affiliate entry award goes to projects that have not already won a prize. These projects that were selected as the outstanding affiliate entry award winners for Arizona are in the top 20 for all their category as honorable mention winners.
Important Details to Note:
Making the NHD journey all the way up to the National level is an incredible accomplishment. Committing to finishing a year-long project that requires in-depth research like NHD is an accomplishment in itself, let alone having a project that stands out in the state well enough to make it to the National Competition. NHD reaches more than a half a million students around the country and only around 3,000 make it to Nationals every year. That means approximately 0.6% of participating students around the country make it to the National Contest, annually. Building an NHD project that is judged to be Nationals caliber is an amazing feat and deserves to be celebrated.
Out of more than 500,000 students who compete across the country, U.S. territories, and international affiliates, the selected group of 37 qualifiers who defied the odds will be representing Arizona. As stated before, there are around 3,000 students who qualify for Nationals. This bunch of Arizona students are a part of those 3,000 meaning that these students are a part of the 0.6% of students who make it to Nationals. The competition is filled with top competitors from across the globe and the odds of winning a national medal (bronze, silver, and gold) are just three percent. Students competed against roughly 100 of the finest entries in their specific category.
A top-three finish is an incredible and prestigious academic achievement. While Arizona did not have any top three finishes in the Nation for any category, the students who came away with honors should be extremely proud of their accomplishments.
Every student who attended Nationals should be proud of such an extraordinary feat and for seeing their hard work all the way through.
Contests:
To register for contests, please select the desired contest. Not sure which contest you are supposed to attend? Email [email protected]
NHDAZ State Contest – 2026
Not sure which competition you are supposed to attend? Email [email protected].
Contest FAQs:
Judges and Volunteers
Thank you so much for volunteering your time to judge for NHDAZ! Your commitment to the students of Arizona does not go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated.
NHDAZ State Contest – 2026
Not sure which competition you are supposed to attend? Email [email protected].
Judges Resources:
Judging Instructions by Category:
Judging Evaluation Forms by Category:
If you have any questions please reach out to [email protected].
2026 Arizona Supplement Theme Book
The Arizona Historical Society’s Library and Archives department reached out to other Library and Archives organizations and got back topic ideas as well as primary and secondary sources to aid students in their research for the 2025-26 theme Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History. This packet also includes information on where you can find these organizations so that you can go take a look at their collections in person. Also, many of the sources provided within the topic ideas show how Arizona was involved for each topic.
NHD in Arizona Theme Book
Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History Topic Ideas from Partnering Organizations
NHDAZ is fortunate to have partnered with various organizations to bring topic ideas to students centered around the 2025-26 theme of Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History. These lists of topic ideas will help students in their research process by providing topics as well as sources along with those topics. Many of the sources provided within these topic ideas show how Arizona was involved regarding each topic. We are grateful to our partners who help make these resources possible!
Topics From — The Historical League, Inc
Updated Special Awards List – Coming soon!
