For Judges and Other Volunteers

Judging is a fantastic way to connect with students, support your community, and learn about history. Be a part of Maryland students’ successes as they learn and grow through History Day. Why?

• Community involvement
• Networking opportunities
• Learn something new
• Free breakfast and lunch
• Help the youth of Maryland

While most judges include humanities scholars, teachers, librarians, and museum professionals, anyone who wants to support students in this exciting learning experience may judge. You do not need to have any prior experience to judge – we will train you!

For the state contest, we need at least 200 judges so please invite your friends and family!

Maryland History Day judges review student projects in a preferred division and category, interview students, rank projects and select winners to advance to the national contest, and provide constructive written feedback via evaluation forms.

You will be assigned to a team of three judges, one of whom will be designated as the captain. It is important that everyone on your team agrees on the overall rankings of the entries you judge. Your comment forms will eventually make their way back to the students, so make sure you write comments that are similar and complementary to one another.

Judges’ orientations will be held to help prepare you for the main event. In addition to in-person orientation, we will host an online orientation, using zoom, for those who cannot make it to our offices in Baltimore. If you would like more information or plan on attending either of these sessions please contact Isabella Altherr at ialtherr@mdhumanities.org You can also learn more via a previous year’s online webinar.

Training Materials: Upon registering to judge, you are encouraged to review the National History Day rulebook to see specific details about the categories and procedures, as well as the annual contest theme. You can also look at sample projects from previous competitions.

Judging instructions and evaluation forms for specific categories are also available.

• Paper Category Instructions and Evaluation Form
• Exhibit Category Instructions and Evaluation Form
• Website Category Instructions and Evaluation Form
• Documentary Category Instructions and Evaluation Form
• Performance Category Instructions and Evaluation Form

Tips and Sample Questions

• Sample Questions
• Best Tips for Judges

As a judge, you will:

• Sign up in advance.
• Attend a judge orientation
• Work with another volunteer to review projects and interview students.
• Select the strongest projects to advance to the next level of competition.
• Provide thorough written feedback about each project you view.

• Arrive on time to all events for which you sign up and stay until the judging process is completed.
• Let us know as soon as possible if your schedule changes and you are unable to judge.
• Remember the age of your audience. Some students are as young as 6th grade and may be nervous to discuss their work.  Ask questions which prompt students to provide information, and be patient if they are shy or anxious.
• Pay careful attention so you can evaluate well. Students have worked for months on their projects and are looking forward this opportunity to share their work.
• Judges should avoid distractions such as personal phone calls, texts, etc. during the event.  Judges may not bring minor children that they need to supervise to the event.
• Let the History Day staff know right away if there are problems. We are here to help!

Detailed instructions will be sent in the weeks leading up to the contest. On the day of the contest, you will be given a packet with important information such as the schedule for your team, evaluation forms, and other contest forms.

There are two rounds of judging: the first round takes place in the morning, beginning at 9 and usually ending around noon. First round judges should set aside at least six hours. The second round of judging (runoffs) takes place in the afternoon, usually between 1:30-3:30. Because of the shorter time frame, second round judges do not interview students; however, they make the final decision regarding who advances on to the national competition.

Judges for the paper, website, and documentaries categories will review the projects electronically at least one week before the competition and will interview students the day of.

Tentative Schedule
7:30 a.m. – Judges arrive for breakfast/brief orienation
9:00 a.m. – Judging in all categories begins
12:00 p.m. – First-round of judging is finished
1:00-1:30 p.m. – Second round of judging begins
3:30 p.m. – Awards Ceremony begins

I don’t feel comfortable judging, but want to help. Are there other roles I can help with?