FAIR USE: The use of copyrighted material for your project falls under the Fair Use doctrine, which identifies educational use for non-commercial purposes as acceptable with certain limitations. You should not place your project in a non-academic public setting, such as a commercial Internet site, without obtaining permission from the copyright owner. Read more here. 

PLAGIARISM: Presenting the work or ideas of others in ways that give the impression that they are your own (copying information word-for-word without using both quotations and citations, paraphrasing an author’s ideas without proper attribution, or using visuals or music without giving proper credit). Plagiarism in any form will result in disqualification from the contest.

RULE INFRACTION: A violation of any of the rules stated in this Contest Rule Book. Judges will take any rule infractions into consideration in their final rankings. Failure to comply with the rules will count against your entry but will only result in disqualification as delineated below. Any rule infractions should be corrected before a winning entry competes in the next level of competition.

DISQUALIFICATION: Removal of an entry from competition. A project may be disqualified from the contest on three grounds:

1. Plagiarizing all or part of the NHD project. Please note that failing to give proper credit is plagiarism.

2. Reusing, individually or as a group, a project (or research from a project) from a previous year, or entering a project in multiple contests or entry categories within a contest year.

3. Tampering with any part of the project of another student.

You can find the full National History Day rule book here. 

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At the DC History Day Citywide, please note that:

• All students who are listed as authors on a project *MUST* register for the Citywide contest.
• If a project is entered as a "group project" it must have at least two student authors.
• Student projects must follow the upload requirements for the contest. Projects that do not follow these requirements will not be judged in the Citywide contest. 
  • For web sites:
    • Web sites *MUST* be built using the NHD web builder. Web sites built using other platforms like Google Sites, etc. will be disqualified. 
    • Written materials (bibliography and process paper) must be an integrated part of the web site and included as a PDF.
  • For exhibits:
    • Exhibit projects *MUST* upload *ONE* PDF document to the dc.nhd.org submission center that includes your process paper, bibliography, and high resolution images of your exhibit board, including close-ups of each section. It is highly recommended that you also include the written portions as typed text under each image, along with the image captions and citations. If your exhibit includes sound, it is highly recommended that you link to a YouTube or Vimeo file that includes the sound. Judges will not open links to shared drives like Google Drive and dropbox. 
  • Documentaries and performances:
    • *MUST* upload *ONE* PDF document to the dc.nhd.org submission center that includes your process paper and bibliography. *DO NOT* link to outside sources like Google Docs, Office 365, etc. Judges will not open these links, and your project may not be judged.
    • Include a link to either a YouTube or Vimeo video upload. Please *DO NOT* provide links to outside file drives, like Google Drive, etc. as these require permission sharing; we cannot reach out to you to get permissions. Projects uploaded with these types of links will not be judged in the Citywide contest. 
  • For papers:
    • Written materials *MUST* be uploaded as *ONE* PDF to dc.nhd.org. Do *NOT* link to written materials on Office 365, Google Drive, etc. Judges will not open these links and your project will not be judged.
• Each school may enter only *THREE* projects in each category. Individual and group are treated as separate categories as are senior and junior entries. 
  • Can we send extra projects in one category if we have fewer in another? 
    •  No. The entry allotment is per category, not per type of entry. Schools may send 3 entries in each category. There are no exceptions.
      • Individual and Group are separate categories. Individual Documentary is a category and Group Documentary is a category. Schools may advance three (3) Individual Documentary entries and (3) Group Documentary entries. 
      • Scenario: A middle school contest has five (5) projects in the Junior Individual Documentary Category and two projects in the Junior Group Documentary Category. The school may advance three (3) Individual Documentaries to the Citywide contest, and two (2) Group Documentaries. 
• Project advancement.
  • If a category has four (4) or fewer entries:
    • The category will have one round of judging.
    • Judges may select *up to* two (2), but no fewer than one (1) projects to advance to Nationals. 
    • Project advancement to Nationals is at the sole discretion of the judging teams. The decisions of the judges are final. DC History Day does *not* provide the names or contact information for judges to teachers, participants, schools, or parents.
  • If a category has 5-11 entries:
    • The category will have one round of judging. 
    • Judges will select two (2) projects to advance to Nationals. 
    • Project advancement to Nationals is at the sole discretion of the judging teams. The decisions of the judges are final. DC History Day does *not* provide the names or contact information for judges to teachers, participants, schools, or parents.
  • If a category has 12 or more entries:
    • The category *may* split into multiple first rounds, resulting in a second "run-off" round. 
    • Judges will select three (3) projects from each first round to advance to run-offs. 
    • Run-offs judges will be asked to select two (2) projects to advance to Nationals. 
    • Project advancement to Nationals is at the sole discretion of the judging teams. The decisions of the judges are final. DC History Day does *not* provide the names or contact information for judges to teachers, participants, schools, or parents.