Taking a Stand in History in the American West
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is sponsoring a History in the American West contest as a part of celebrating the Center’s Centennial in 2017.
Who: Contest is targeted to Big Horn Basin High School-aged participants including home schooled students.
Categories: Paper, Documentary, Website.
Theme: Taking a Stand in History in the American West.
Awards: $500 First Prize in each category; an additional $500 for Grand Prize Winner.
Contest Deadline: March 17, 2017. Winners announced April 7, 2017.
You may enter as an individual or a group. You may enter online by clicking the link at the bottom of this page. [Please note the contest ended in 2017]
To complement local, state, and National History Day competitions, the Center’s contest will follow National History Day Guidelines and Judging Criteria summarized below:
Paper Entry Rules
- Historical papers must be between 1,500 and 2,500 words.
- Citations—footnotes, endnotes, or internal documentation—are required.
- Papers must be typed or computer printed on plain, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper with 1-inch margins on all sides.
- Pages must be numbered consecutively and double-spaced with writing in 12-point font.
Documentary Entry Rules
- Documentaries may not exceed ten minutes in length.
- All entries must be original productions and student-produced.
- Using material created by others specifically for use in your entry is prohibited. You may use professional photographs, film, recorded music, etc., within your presentation. However, you must give proper credit in the credits at the end of our presentation.
Website Entry Rules
- Website entries may contain no more than 1,200 visible, student-composed words. Code used to build the site and alternate text tags on images do not count toward the word limit.
- The entire site, including all multimedia, may use no more than 100MB of file space.
- The website may contain multimedia clips (audio, video, or both) that total no more than four minutes (e.g., use one four-minute clip, four one-minute clips, two two-minute clips, etc.)
- You may use professional photographs, graphics, video, recorded music, etc., within the site. Such items must be integrated into the website, and credit must be given within the site.
- The pages that comprise the site must be viewable in a recent version of a standard web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome).
- If you use any form of multimedia that requires a specific software to view (e.g., Flash, QuickTime, Real Player, etc.), you must provide on the same page a link to an Internet site where the software is available as a free, secure, and legal download.
- All entries must be original productions constructed using the National History Day website editor, beginning at the school level: go to nhd.org/categories.htm and select Website.
- You must submit the URL for the site not later than the March 17, 2017, deadline.
Judging Criteria
Adopted from the National History Day Contest (nhd.org).
Entries will be judged by historians and educators using the following criteria:
Historical Quality (60 percent): The most important aspect of your entry is its historical quality. You should ask yourself the following questions to help you focus on your historical analysis.
- Is my entry historically accurate?
- Does my entry provide analysis and interpretation of the historical data rather than just a description?
- Does my entry demonstrate an understanding of historical context?
- Does my annotated bibliography demonstrate wide research?
- Does my entry demonstrate a balanced presentation of materials?
- Does my entry demonstrate use of available primary sources?
Relation to Theme (20 percent): Your entry must explain clearly the relation of your topic to the contest theme. You should ask yourself the following questions to help focus your topic on the theme and its significance.
- How does my topic relate to the theme?
- Why is my topic important?
- How is my topic significant in history and in relation to the contest theme?
- How did my topic influence history?
- How did the events and atmosphere (social, economic, political, and cultural aspects of my topic’s time period influence my topic in history?
Clarity of Presentation (20 percent): Although historical quality is most important, your entry must be presented in an effective manner. You should ask yourself the following questions to help you focus on your presentation.
- Is my entry original, creative, and imaginative in subject and presentation?
- Is my written material clear, grammatically correct, and accurately spelled?
- Is my entry well-organized?
- Is my visual material presented clearly?
For additional guidance for strong entries, see the National History Day website at nhd.org.
Extra consideration will be given for those students who use Buffalo Bill Center of the West resources on-site or online in their research.
Thank you to all who submitted Centennial History Contest entries
The Buffalo Bill Center of the West Centennial Contest entries may be posted on the Center’s website and used in the future for educational or marketing purposes. Your submission to the Center’s Centennial Contest serves as permission for these uses.
