COLLEGE PARK, MD – June 17, 2025 – National History Day® (NHD) hosted its annual National Contest last week at the University of Maryland in College Park, where nearly 3,000 middle and high school students gathered from across the country and around the world to showcase their yearlong historical research projects.
The 2025 contest theme, Rights and Responsibilities in History, encouraged students to examine how individuals and communities have claimed—and responded to—rights throughout history. Finalists emerged from local, regional, and state competitions involving hundreds of thousands of students. Project categories included documentary, exhibit, performance, website, and paper across both junior and senior divisions.
“We are deeply proud of every student who poured time, effort, and creativity into their research this year,” said National History Day Executive Director Dr. Cathy Gorn. “The theme of Rights and Responsibilities has never been more relevant, and these students tackled it with passion and depth. Their work continues to inspire all of us who believe in the power of historical thinking.”
This year’s National Contest student winners include:
Senior Group Documentary
- First Place: Sophie Lee, Haydn Mangione, Bryan Lee; Daegu, Korea, Daegu International School; The Right to Write: The Korean Language Society’s Fight for their Mother Tongue
- Second Place: Shawn Feng, Emma An, Divya Ariyur, Benjamin Lu; Carmel, IN, Carmel High School; Buried Rights and Broken Duties: Love Canal and the Call for Responsibility
- Third Place: Julia Choi, Parisa Gopal, Sara Bangale, Miranda Wang, Joy Xia; Houston, TX, Bellaire High School; The Pentagon Papers: War, Truth, and Press Freedom
Junior Group Documentary
- First Place: Passawat Chanyasak, Wewish Mahawong; Chiang Mai, Thailand, Chiang Mai International School; From Pits to Pickets: The UK Miners’ Strike of 1984
- Second Place: Helen Collins, Sara Rosenthal; Minneapolis, MN, Sanford Middle School; Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty: Right to Access News, Responsibility to Provide It
- Third Place: Tynnlie Schram, Paige Nicholson, Sydney Edwards; Akron, IA, Akron Westfield Middle School; Sisters in the Sky: Reaching New Heights Claiming Military Rights
Senior Group Exhibit
- First Place: Kai Kim, Tate Kim; Upper Saddle River, NJ, Bergen County Academies; Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company v. Sawyer: Rights and Responsibilities under Separation of Powers
- Second Place: Sawyer Svetcov, Scarlett Svetcov; Breiningsville, PA, Parkland High School; Victory Through Sacrifice: Rights, Responsibilities, and Rations on the WWII Home Front
- Third Place: Amanda Zadnik, Simonne Thibeault; Storrs, CT, E. O. Smith High School; Rewarded by Death: How Operation Columba Exemplifies the Rights and Responsibilities of Civilians in Wartime
Junior Group Exhibit
- First Place: Rachel Kim, Zi Shan Lau; Singapore, Singapore American School; 1917 Bath Riots: Bleaching Away Immigrants’ Rights
- Second Place: Vivi Zhong, Christy Lieu, Katharine Wu, Manting Wang; Rosemead, CA, Temple (Roger W.) Intermediate School; Denied Rights, Embraced Responsibility: The Displacement and Rebuilding of Los Angeles’s Chinatown
- Third Place: Alessia Fortunato, Claire Chiaramonte; Middle Village, NY, The Dorothy Bonawit Kole School; The Kent State Massacre: Tension Between Protests and Authority
Senior Group Performance
- First Place: Isaac Benscoter, Isaac Seberger; Marshalltown, IA, Marshalltown High School; Tinker v. Des Moines: Taking Responsibility to Ensure Students’ Rights
- Second Place: Paulina Dhanens, Olivia Brouwer, Danielle Pinson; Vancouver, WA, Vancouver iTech Preparatory; Ships, Sparks, and Sexism: How the Kaiser Shipyards Changed the Workforce
- Third Place: Surie Zhang, Annabelle Wu, Tirzah Chan; Clarksville, MD, River Hill High School; The Lasting Impact of Forever Chemicals: How the DuPont Case Altered Corporate Responsibility and Consumer Rights
Junior Group Performance
- First Place: Gianna Greenleaf, Saelah Boie, Cass Moffatt, Lux Larson; Akron, IA, Akron Westfield Middle School; Old Enough to Vote: Rights and Responsibilities of the 26th Amendment
- Second Place: Yianni Gountis, Corrado Naples, Nathan Thomas; Westlake, OH, Birchwood School of Hawken; Pieces of the Parthenon: How the Elgin Marbles Carved Controversy Between the Rights and Responsibilities of Cultural Artifacts
- Third Place: Alison Schrader, Aesop Birkemeier, Sully Rockwell, Kaleb Ice; Nashville, IN, Brown County Middle School; Rights and Responsibilities in History: Remembering the Legacy of Ryan White
Senior Group Website
- First Place: Lillian Tao, Abigail Gomez; Hilo, HI, Waiakea High School; The Thalidomide Tragedy: The Importance of Manufacturing Responsibility, Consumer Safety, and the Birth of Modern Drug Regulation and Consumer Rights
- Second Place: Eric Lillie, Mark Blair, Krishna Kuruvadi; Chula Vista, CA, Francis Parker School; From Sovereignty to Exile: The Forgone Rights of the Cherokee and the Abandoned Responsibilities of the U.S. Government
- Third Place: Ryan Malt, David Ruland, Ezra Kushigian, Colin Brown, Rowan Maishman; Rutherfordton, NC, Classical Scholars; Stolen Childhoods: How the United States Stripped Native American Children of their Human Rights to Home and Culture and Failed to Accept Responsibility for Redress
Junior Group Website
- First Place: Shawn Castrapel, Max Castrapel; Irvine, CA, Sierra Vista Middle School; Rights and Responsibilities: The Hetch Hetchy Dam and Its Environmental Impact
- Second Place: Emilie O’Neill, Braylynn Brase, Mykah Hall, Elizabeth Kalvig, Ellie Sudol; Nashua, IA, Nashua-Plainfield Junior-Senior High School; Don’t Tinker With My Rights: The Case for School Responsibility and Student First Amendment Rights
- Third Place: Joseph Featherstone, Christine Jeon; Irvine, CA, Sierra Vista Middle School; The Thalidomide Tragedy: Rights of Consumers’ Healthcare and Responsibilities of the Manufacturer
Senior Individual Documentary
- First Place: Brad Wu; Chandler, AZ, Arizona College Prep High School; Camp Jened: A Revolution Born in the Mountains
- Second Place: Kalamakūokanaʻauao Crabbe; Waipahu, HI, Kamehameha Schools – Kapālama Campus; The Protect Kaho’olawe ‘Ohana’s Fight for Kohemalamalama O Kanaloa’s Rights
- Third Place: William Gao; San Diego, CA, Canyon Crest Academy School; The Fall and Rise of Mono Lake: The Public Trust Doctrine’s Water Revolution
Junior Individual Documentary
- First Place: Brinkley Benoit; Baytown, TX, Cedar Bayou Junior High; The Great IDEA: Speaking for Those Who Cannot Speak for Themselves
- Second Place: David Gilbert; Cumberland Foreside, ME, Greely Middle School; Tennent v. DuPont: Violated Rights and Failed Responsibility
- Third Place: Adrian Gillette; Bettendorf, IA, Bettendorf Middle School; FREADOM on Trial: Rights and Responsibilities in Island Trees Board of Education v. Pico
Senior Individual Exhibit
- First Place: Samantha Bailey; Irvine, CA, Orange County School of the Arts; Forbidden to Fundamental: Perez v. Sharp’s Defense of Marriage Rights and Call for Constitutional Responsibility
- Second Place: Tony Pan; Glen Head, NY, Jericho Senior High School; The Largest Mass Deportation in American History: Operation Wetback’s Failure to Uphold Legal Responsibilities and Safeguard Migrants’ Civil and Ethical Rights
- Third Place: Emily Yi; Irvine, CA, Orange County School of the Arts; Legacy of Betrayal and Medical Immorality: The Rights, Responsibilities, and Redemption of Tuskegee
Junior Individual Exhibit
- First Place: Alekha Goldberg; Pine Mountain Club, CA, Peak To Peak Mountain Charter School; Returning Blue Lake: The Confluence of Rights, Responsibilities and Social Justice
- Second Place: Stella Harp; McDonough, GA, Ola Middle School; Save Our Children Campaign: How Anita Bryant Made It Her Responsibility to Limit Queer Rights
- Third Place: Yingzheng Song; Singapore, Singapore American School; Denying Rights, Disregarding Ethics, and Dismissing Responsibilities: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
Senior Individual Performance
- First Place: Keilani Kajiyama Moses; Laie, HI, Kahuku High & Intermediate School; Defending Rights, Embracing Responsibility: Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga’s Pursuit of Justice for Japanese Internees
- Second Place: Yudan Sun; Seogwipo-Si, Korea, Korea International School – Jeju; The Man Who Starved for Rights: How Bobby Sands Fulfilled His Ethical Responsibilities by Beginning the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike
- Third Place: Aya Prince; Pensacola, FL, Pensacola High School; A Court for the Creeks: How Seven Men Set in Motion a 150-Year Battle
Junior Individual Performance
- First Place: Franka Hebisch; Silver Spring, MD, Eastern Middle School; Corporate Tyranny: How the Match Girls Lit the Flame of Change for Workers in 1888
- Second Place: Morgan Houser; St. Paul, MN, St. Thomas More Catholic School; The Sedition Act of 1798: The Challenge to Free Speech
- Third Place: Rayan Gupta; Chantilly, VA, J. Michael Lunsford Middle School; Japanese Internment: Rights and Responsibilities
Senior Individual Website
- First Place: Nico Allen; Eden Prairie, MN, Eden Prairie High School; The Palmer Raids: Balancing National Security with Individual Rights
- Second Place: Katelyn Chen; Carmel, IN, Carmel High School; Gaokao 1977: Restoring Citizens’ Rights and the Chinese Government’s Responsibility to Higher Education
- Third Place: Kathleen Godfrey; Arden, NC, Classical Scholars; You Can’t: The Rights and Responsibilities of Neurodivergent Children
Junior Individual Website
- First Place: Cassidy McCarthy; Weatherford, TX, iUniversity Prep; The West Virginia Mine Wars: Justice in the Coal Field
- Second Place: Paige Timpe; Arlington Heights, IL, Quest Academy; Calling the Shots: Rights, Responsibilities, and Public Health
- Third Place: Yueshin Yu; Boston, MA, Ottoson Middle School; Defining Family: The Legal Battle for LGBTQ+ Rights in Braschi v. Stahl
Senior Paper
- First Place: Ryka Chopra; Fremont, CA, Mission San Jose High School; Daughters of the Pyre: Sati Abolition – Rights, Responsibilities, and a Reluctant Reform in Colonial India
- Second Place: Omar Elbadawy; Avon, OH, Hawken Upper School; The Lane Seminary Rebels: Balancing Rights and Responsibility in the Fight for Abolition and Free Speech
- Third Place: Ziqian (Albert) Wang; Shenzhen, China, Basis International School Park Lane Harbour; My Rights Are Not My Wrongs: How Marginalized Migrants Asserted Their Rights Over State Control Amid China’s Hukou System, Urban Villages, and Economic Miracle
Junior Paper
- First Place: Lila Travis; Minneapolis, MN, Sanford Middle School; The Strike for Better Schools: Fighting for Teachers’ Rights, Taking Responsibility for Public Education
- Second Place: Jason Rong; Los Altos, CA, The Nueva School; The Attica Prison Uprising and Its Legacy: Rights and Responsibilities in the American Prison System
- Third Place: Louisa Cratty; Chapel Hill, NC, Cratty Family Homeschool; An Image of America: Photographer Russell Lee and the Rights of the People
In addition to these national award winners, around 20 special prizes sponsored by various partners, such as the National Park Service and the Library of Congress, were awarded to students across all categories and divisions. Special prizes include African American History, American Labor History, Immigration History, Indigenous History, Women’s History, and more. All documentary category award winners were also named Next Generation Angels Awards winners, sponsored by The Better Angels Society. Read more about this year’s special prize winners here.
During the National Contest, National History Day also honored Mr. Robert DeCerbo from the Palmetto Academy of Learning and Success in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Mr. Michael Biondo from Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Illinois, with the 2025 National History Day Teacher of the Year Award in the junior and senior divisions, respectively. The winners were selected from a pool of 71 middle and high school teacher nominees from NHD affiliates across the world. In addition to celebrating outstanding history scholarship and innovative classroom instruction, the prestigious award comes with a $5,000 cash prize.
The full list of winners and a recording of the 2025 National Contest Awards Ceremony are available on the NHD website.
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ABOUT NATIONAL HISTORY DAY® (NHD)
NHD is a non-profit organization based in College Park, Maryland, that seeks to improve the teaching and learning of history. Established in 1974, NHD currently engages more than half a million students each year in conducting original research on historical topics of interest and supports teachers through professional development opportunities. Students present their research as a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website. Projects compete first at the local and affiliate levels, where the top entries are invited to the annual National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. NHD is sponsored in part by the Joyful Noise Charitable Foundation, The Better Angels Society, Bezos Family Foundation, Library of Congress, Dr. Scholl Foundation, Behring Global Educational Foundation, 400 Years of African American History Commission, and the National Park Service. For more information, visit nhd.org.
