Hundreds of Colorado middle and high school students will be on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus Saturday, April 23, to compete in Colorado History Day.
About 600 students in grades six through 12 will compete in the event, which is part of the largest national humanities education program in the country. The event is free and open to the public and will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The winners will represent Colorado in the National History Day competition in June.
The theme of this year's competition is "Communication in History: The Key to Understanding."
"Colorado History Day draws students from all over Colorado and from an array of communities including ski towns, tiny agricultural communities, suburbs and inner-city Denver," said Wendy Rex-Atzet, Colorado History Day state coordinator.
Competing students are judged on dramatic performances, museum-style exhibits, multimedia documentaries or research papers that they produced based on this year's theme. The students, many of whom have worked on their projects for the entire school year, compete at one of 10 regional competitions before arriving at CU-Boulder to compete at the state level.
The competition is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Student exhibits will be open for public viewing in the University Memorial Center ballroom from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The awards ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. in the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre.
CU-Boulder's history department has been coordinating Colorado History Day since 1984, shortly after the program debuted in 1981 as a small contest with 75 student participants.
Colorado History Day sponsors are the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities, CU Outreach Committee, The Denver Post, History Advisory Board, Edward Madigan Foundation, CU Office of Community Relations, Optimist Club of Monaco South and Boulder Odd Fellows Lodge No. 9.
Colorado History Day is affiliated with National History Day.
For more information call (303) 492-5845 or visit the Web site at .