The 2009 National History Challenge
- supported by the National Trust

THEME: ‘Triumph Over Adversity’

A message from the Tasmanian State Coordinator, Angelique Bowe ~

Tasmanian students have an enviable record of success in this competition - 4 Australian National Young Historians in the past 6 years!! And many, many National Special Category Winners too!  This is due in no small part to the wonderful and ongoing encouragement and support that students receive from their teachers and schools, their families, and their communities, as they undertake the rigorous work of real historians while investigating and telling about important events from our shared past. 
The proposed theme for this year is an exciting one, and as it fits so well with our Society and History curriculum and historical inquiry and communication skills, I’m sure that many students and teachers will once again see the benefits of being involved in this engaging and challenging, rich learning opportunity.

The National History Challenge is an exciting contest that encourages students to use research and inquiry-based learning to discover more about Australia and its past. Students are the historians, they can investigate their community, explore their own and their family's past, explore major events that have taught Australia, as a nation, new ideas or theories.
The Challenge encourages inquiry based learning, the use of primary and secondary sources and offers a variety of presentation styles that can cater to individual learning styles.

Four presentation methods are available.

Students from Years 5 to 12, 19 years of age or younger, in Australian schools submit their research and can progress from School to Regional to State / Territory and National finals. They will all have an unforgettable learning experience through involvement in the Challenge.

Entry is easy. There is an entry form in the Registration section of the Challenge's website. The more entries the better and every participant receives a certificate. Please enter through your school. If you want further information and advice, contact me, your State Co-ordinator.

Entries will be judged firstly in schools and a short-list will then be forwarded to the State Co-ordinator by the closing date, TBA.
The Judging Sheet shows how entries will actually be marked. Judging takes place in several stages.

If you would like to be involved please click on the link and send me an email  to angelique.bowe@education.tas.gov.au so that I can include you in future emails where we will share ideas on how to connect the theme, planning historical inquiry tasks, information about research skills and strategies, planning proformas for use by teachers and students and examples of work from past students who have been successful at state or national judging; in fact anything and everything that helps to make this as easy and as enjoyable for you and your students as we can make it!  

Remember:  You can involve ALL the students in your class by using the Challenge as the structure for a learning sequence and then from those students who want to submit their work for school judging, you can make your assessment and forward the best entries on to me for state judging.  Meanwhile ALL your students have completed an enjoyable and challenging task and fulfilled some of the requirements of the Society and History curriculum and some may even have the chance to win cash prizes and perhaps even win a trip to our national capital and a visit to Parliament House to be presented with their prize as a National Winner!

Every student who is registered as a participant will receive a Certificate of Participation. 
More information is available on our website – which will be further updated as soon as an official announcement is forthcoming!  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

The Challenge's website is at http://www.historychallenge.com.au/