National History Day Rulebook

Above is a link to the National History Day Rulebook. The Commerce and East Texas History Day contest is a recognized regional affiliate of the National History Day contest and upholds the rules of the National History Day rulebook.

About the Commerce and East Texas Regional Texas History Day Contest

What is Texas History Day?

Each year thousands of students, encouraged by teachers and parents statewide, participate in the National History Day program in Texas. Texas History Day, an affiliate of NHD and is a highly regarded academic program for 6th through 12th grade students. Each year more than 65,000 Texas students join more than 500,000 students across the country for National History Day!

Texas History Day provides a framework for successful student projects. Each student bases their project on the same annual theme and rule book. Students choose historical topics related to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research at libraries, archives, museums, historic sites, and more. Projects are not limited to any particular time period or geographic area. After analyzing and interpreting their source material, create a plan to present their findings to the peers and teachers before moving on to regional, state, and possibly national contests. Students can create and present original research papers, exhibits, performances, websites, and documentaries.

The student projects may be entered into competitions in the spring at one of our regional contests across Texas. Winners from each regional competition will advance to the state contest in Austin. Students who place first or second at our state contest advance to the National Contest held each June held at the University of Maryland at College Park.

For more info, visit: TSHA: Texas History Day

2024 Event Location:

Contest co-hosted by Stephen F Austin State University and Texas A&M University-Commerce, held in the Samuel Rayburn Student Center on the campus of Texas A&M University-Commerce. 

Tentative Schedule: What to Expect

Schedule will be provided within a week in advance of the contest.  Generally judging will begin about 9:00am and the contest will end by 3:00pm.

Student projects will be judged based on the following criteria: 

• Historical Quality - 60% 
• Relation to Theme - 20% 
• Clarity of Presentation - 20%