Students from seven Maryland counties and Baltimore City will represent Maryland in the National History Day competition in June
(Baltimore, MD) – Maryland Humanities is delighted that more than 500 middle and high school students shared a year’s worth of history research at the 2025 Maryland History Day State Contest on May 3.
The competition, held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), serves as the culmination of Maryland Humanities’ Maryland History Day program. Students who participate in the program create original documentaries, exhibits, performances, research papers, or websites exploring a historical topic of their choice, based on an annual theme.
Maryland History Day is an affiliate of National History Day, whose work includes selecting each year’s theme. For 2025, the organization chose the theme of “Rights and Responsibilities in History.”
Maryland History Day sparks critical thinking in students, and helps them develop their skills in research and analysis, writing, and public speaking. Last year, more than 28,000 Maryland students participated at the school level. The program is open to public, private, parochial, and homeschool students in grades 6 through 12.
Competitors at Maryland History Day have already won first or second place in their category at school and/or district levels. Students from fifteen counties, Baltimore City, and the Juvenile Services Education Program (part of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services) received special awards, designated for outstanding Maryland History Day projects that cover specific subjects.
Students from seven Maryland counties and Baltimore City will represent Maryland in the National History Day competition, where they will compete among an estimated 3,000 participants from across the country and beyond. National History Day runs June 8–12 at the University of Maryland in College Park.
The national competition involves students from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and international schools in China, Korea, and South Asia. Maryland History Day is an affiliate of National History Day, a nonprofit education organization that promotes an appreciation for historical research among middle and high school students through multiple annual programs, including the National History Day Contest.
Maryland Humanities is also pleased to name Lindsay Matthews and Sam Manelski as the Maryland History Day Statewide Middle and High School Teachers of the Year, respectively. Matthews teaches social studies at Easton Middle School on Maryland’s Mid-Shore, while Manelski serves as History and Social Studies Department Chair at Loyola Blakefield in Baltimore, and also teaches. Both Matthews and Manelski were honored at the Maryland History Day Awards Ceremony.
“It’s nice to be seen as a social studies teacher,” says Matthews. “That doesn’t happen very often, being recognized for specifically a social studies program that I really have come and learned to love, it means a lot.” She calls Maryland History Day “the most real-life social studies task that we can really provide kids.”
Manelski says: “I’m really appreciative of it. I’m very thankful.” He adds that Maryland History Day helps students “realize what they’re capable of….They prove to themselves that they’re smart and motivated.”
Please see the entire roster of 2025 Maryland History Day honorees here. To learn more, visit the Maryland History Day website. For any questions or other information, please contact Stephanie Boyle, Program Officer for History.
Maryland History Day is supported by Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), National History Day®, Thalheimer-Eurich Charitable Fund, Baltimore County Commission on the Arts & Sciences, James T. and Virginia M. Dresher Center for the Humanities at UMBC, and Wright, Constable & Skeen, LLP.
About Maryland History Day
Maryland History Day is an affiliate of National History Day and a year-long educational program of Maryland Humanities. More than 26,000 middle and high school students create original projects that explore a historical topic of their choice on an annual theme. Professional development for teachers is offered through online courses and platforms, summer teacher institutes, workshops, and classroom outreach. Maryland Humanities produces Maryland History Day. For more information, visit www.mdhistoryday.org.
About National History Day
NHD is a non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland, that seeks to improve the teaching and learning of history. The National History Day Contest was established in 1974 and currently engages more than half a million students every year in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. Students present their research as a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website. Projects compete first at the local and affiliate levels, where the top entries are invited to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. NHD is sponsored in part by HISTORY®, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Patricia Behring Foundation, Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, World Education Foundation, the National Park Service, the 400 Years of African-American History Commission, the Better Angels Society, The Dr. Scholl Foundation, and individual donors. For more information, visit nhd.org.