Special Feature
National History Day 2000 Prize Essays^*

NATIONAL HISTORY DAY is a year-long program which uses history to teach students research, analysis, and communication skills. Drawing from both primary and secondary sources, students from grades six through twelve research topics related to an annual theme. They then present their findings in papers, museum-style exhibits, performances, or documentaries, working individually or as members of groups of up to five, except in the paper category, which must be written by individuals. Students compete in district or regional contests, with the top winners advancing to state competitions. The year culminates with the national finals, held each June at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. At each level, groups of judges evaluate the entries and provide the students with constructive feedback; typically, the judges are history educators, public historians, or archivists. The 2000 contest focussed on the theme "Turning Points in History."	1
During the 2000-2001 school year, National History Day invites students to research topics related to the theme, "Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas." The theme is broad enough in scope to encourage investigation of topics ranging from local to world history. To understand the historical importance of their topics, students must ask questions of time and place, cause and effect, change over time, and impact and significance. What factors contributed to the development of this frontier? Why did it develop and how did it change? When did it cease to be a frontier? What impact did it have on the people who experienced it and how did they in turn affect it? Regardless of the topic selected, students must not only present a description of it, but also draw conclusions about how their topic affected individuals, communities, nations, or the world.	2
Students investigating this year's theme may explore a geographical frontier and how it changed over time or they may focus on the people who lived there and the significance of frontier life. A frontier may be geographical, an area on the periphery of a settled society or between two societies. Typically, everyday life is cruder, institutions are simpler, and contact with outsiders is greater than in the longer-settled core. As settlement expands, this frontier area develops into a mature society itself, but often remains significantly different from the older core society. Another geographical definition of a frontier is the formal border between two countries or societies, particularly when they are hostile to each other. Students may examine the role that borders have played in specific conflicts between countries or how borders have kept people apart, willingly or not. Finally, the term frontier may signify the limits of knowledge or achievement in a particular activity or subject. As in the first definition, a frontier of this sort changes over time: what is a frontier for one generation may be commonplace for succeeding generations. Student interest may then turn to exploring the work of individuals who have thought of new ways of organizing human life politically, economically, religiously, or socially and to assessing the impact of these new ideas. Or, perhaps their attention will be captured by the athletic or cultural achievements of individuals who refused to be limited by the boundaries of convention.	3
*Editor's Note: The History Teacher publishes annually the Senior and Junior prize-winning essays chosen in the National History Day competition.

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