We are looking for people with some understanding of history and historical research and who are interested in working with young people to serve as judges for the Lower Eastern Shore History Day contest. For all categories, you will have access to the annotated bibliographies and process papers ahead of time. For documentaries, papers, and websites, you will have the actual projects ahead of time as well. Access will be through the online portal where you also register. Judges will be assigned to two- or three-person teams, and you will have from about TBA to TBA to review your entries and, if you choose, to get started on writing comments.
JUDGES' REGISTRATION: Click here to register. On the page this takes you to, go to the "Create Account" box on the right and enter your name and email, then click "Create Account." On the page that pops up, it will ask you what you are registering as. On the drop-down menu, choose "Judge" and click "Save and Continue." The portal will then send an email to the email address you entered. Go to that email and click in the email as directed. That should take you to several short forms/pages; on each form/page, fill out the requested information and then click "Save and Continue." At the end, you will get an acknowledgment that you have registered as a judge.
JUDGES, PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE EVALUATION FORMS CHANGED DRASTICALLY IN 2021 AND THERE ARE NUMEROUS RULE CHANGES--Please consult the resources below for more information.
We expect judging to take place in person this year, so the judges will be interviewing the students. You can view the annotated bibliographies and process papers in the portal, and, if you are judging documentaries, papers, and websites, you can see them in the portal as well. Evaluations may be done online in the portal or on paper, as you prefer. For instructions on how to use the portal for judging, see: History Day Judge Portal Training
The state program has produced numerous short videos on different aspects of judging. Videos 1-4 are intended for judges new to NHD, while the remaining videos are intended for all judges. More videos are being added.
Video 3: Categories and Divisions
Video 4: Annual Theme & Topics
Video 5: Introduction to Evaluating Entries
Video 6: Rules and Infractions
Video 7: Evaluating Historical Argument and the Theme
Here are some useful resources for judges:
VIDEOS:
JUDGING EVALUATION FORMS:
The national contest has changed the evaluation forms yet again (2021-2022). Here is the combined pdf of all the judging forms available on the national website as well as individual forms for each category.
JUDGING INSTRUCTIONS (Note: LaGrange College, site of a district contest in Georgia, has made the judging instructions created by the national office available online, and they may be found below. Thanks, LaGrange!):
PROJECT EXAMPLES:
CONTEST RULE BOOK: