Skip to Content

JUDGES

We are looking for volunteers to judge at the district and state contests!
There are 3 ways to sign up:

PLEASE NOTE: If you are registering online to be a district AND state judge, please create a different account for each contest (i.e., if you register as a judge for the New Haven District Contest, don't use the same username and password to register for the state contest).

Judges work in teams to assess student projects in each division and category. All judging at History Day is done on a consensus basis and judges’ decisions are final. Judges are recruited from the local community; they are educators, historians, curators, video producers, writers, lawyers, and business people with a love of history and education.

On the day of the competition, students should bring four copies of their annotated bibliography and process paper. Judges will ask the students questions at the conclusion of the student presentation to confirm that the students explored all avenues of inquiry, followed all the rules in the NHD contest rulebook, and did the work themselves.

Judges complete an evaluation sheet that will be given to each student after the contest. There is a specific sheet for each category: paper, exhibit, performance, documentary, and website. Evaluation sheets will include project ratings and written comments from the judges.

Resources for Judges
Judging Criteria
History Day entries are judged on three basic goals and standards:

Historical Quality counts for 60% of the total.
  • Is the entry historically accurate?
  • Does the entry include analysis and interpretation?
  • Does the entry place the topic in historical context?
  • Does the entry demonstrate wide research?
  • Does the student use available primary sources in the entry?
  • Is the entry research balanced?
Relation to the Theme counts for 20% of the total.
  • Does the entry relate to the theme: Innovation in History: Impact and Change?
  • Does the entry demonstrate the significance of the topic in history?
  • Does the entry draw conclusions?
Clarity of Presentation counts for 20% of the total.
  • How is the entry presented?
  • Is the entry well organized?
  • Is the entry grammatically correct and are words correctly spelled?
  • Does the entry show creativity?