This year's National History Day centered on the theme "Conflict and Compromise in History." The nationwide contest, in which more than 500,000 students participate in each year, culminated at the University of Maryland from Sunday, June 15 through Thursday, June 19, 2008. Students who had made it past the local and state levels competed in the finals at UMD in the categories of paper, exhibit, performance, documentary, and web site (a new category this year). Once the scores had been tallied, the winners were announced Thursday, June 19, 2008, at a ceremony broadcast live through the History Channel's web site. Below are the first place winners in each category. Visit the 2008 National History Day contest winners page (at www.nhd.org/2008winners.htm) for a more complete list (including all medalists, outstanding entry winners, special award recipients, and more).

The Winners

Papers

• Junior Division: Yashila Permeswaran
• Senior Division: Ian Tuttle

Individual Exhibit

• Junior Division: Nicholas Gupta
• Senior Division: Sade Ogundiran

Group Exhibit

• Junior Division: Carolyn Wasser and Jayna Snyder
• Senior Division: Audrey Christianson & Amy Christianson

Individual Performance

• Junior Division: Amy Price
• Senior Division: Zara Zemmels

Group Performance

• Junior Division: Shelby Carpenter, Nyalia Lui, and Soren Lamb
• Senior Division: Katie Harkins, Jynette Demarco, and Gemma Smith

Individual Documentary

• Junior Division : Jacob Zumo
• Senior Division: Sjobor Hammer

Group Documentary

• Junior Division: Katlyn Mace, and Jaclyn Smith
• Senior Division: Dilim Nwobu, Tia McKinney, Austin Glamser, and Tasnim Mohamed

Web Site

• Junior Division: Laura Harkins
• Senior Division: Chi Zeng

The National History Day competitions were launched at the regionalo level in 1972 by David van Tassel, professor of history at Case Western Reserve University. By 1980, it had grown into a national organization. Today, more than 2 million students, teachers, and parents are engaged in the annual competition held at the district, state, and national levels. At every stage, the goals of the competition are to make history a fun subject while also developing the skills of doing research, of thinking critically, and of communicating effectively.

—Elisabeth C. Grant is the AHA's web content editor.