Teachers are the heart of the History Fair, and we try our best to support you through this process. If you’re considering offering the project to your students, visit Why Do History Fair? All teachers will want to use History Fair Essentials for logistics related to the fairs. In Teaching History Fair, access our curriculum materials. Build content and pedagogical knowledge through Professional Development and other support opportunities in Connecting with Us.
Why do History Fair?
History Fair is a powerful tool that meets a variety of standards and educational approaches including the International Baccalaureate and the State Board of Education’s Inquiry-based Learning Standards. Watch the testimonial videos by fellow teachers as they share their positive experiences.
History Fair requires a fair amount of coordination on the teachers’ part to make the process go smoothly. Novice teachers will want to carefully review Getting Started FAQs to help make critical decisions about implementing the project in your school.
History Fair Essentials
Initial Actions
- All schools intending to participate in History Fair must complete this form. Consider it a first-of-the new school year task.
- Note the dates and deadlines for the competitions.
- Review the rule book for each project category you will offer and download your preferred version of the Summary Statement in Word or in Google Docs.
- Visit the NHD theme and topics page.
Contest Administration
- Read the Contest Administration Guide for an overview of the procedure to entering the competition phase of History Fair.
- Check the project allowances and register advancing projects here.
- Instructions for submitting documentaries to the contest:
- All students at the regional and metro fairs must submit a student authorization form with their project, or teachers may send them directly to the History Fair office. Now available in Spanish (click here).
- Read and communicate event information for the contest.
- Senior Suburban Regional — Saturday, February 23, 2019 at Niles North High School
- Senior City Regional — Saturday, March 9, 2019 at University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC)
- Junior Regional — Saturday, March 30, 2019 at University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC)
- Senior Finals — Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at Chicago History Museum
- Illinois History Day – Thursday, May 2, 2019 in Springfield, Illinois
Illinois History Day 2019, Springfield
- Teachers Packet: instructions, reservation form, material for students and parents
- Schedule of the day
Teaching History Fair
Connecting with Us
- Check out our professional development programs. Throughout the year we offer boot camps for new History Fair teachers, multi-day methods courses and topic-based research workshops with librarians, archivists, and historians. An online tutorial is required for teachers who plan to offer the website category.
- Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to arrange for us to speak to your students.
- For information about the History Fair Partners Fee, click here.