The Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum’s Annual Young Historian Awards feature and further celebrate local students who participated and placed in the District 6 Kansas History Day contest, along with the winners of the Museum’s DeVore Essay Contest.

• About 2026 Kansas History Day

Achievements by the community’s young historians are recognized with awards through the National History Day competition on February 27th. The 2026 theme was “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.”

Each year, the Kansas District 6 competition is hosted by Friends University and supported by the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum. In 2025, honors were awarded to students in six area schools: Derby North Middle School, Derby High School, Robinson Middle School, Wichita East High School, St. Mary’s Parish Catholic School, and Bishop Carroll Catholic High School. The 2025 District 6 National History Awards Ceremony was held at Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum on Sunday, March 2^nd.

Area schools joined more than half a million students globally who completed projects in one of five categories: documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website.

After completing their project, students compete at the local level. The top students from all 50 states, D.C., U.S. territories, and international schools are invited to compete in the National Contest. The critical thinking and research skills students learn through competing in NHD will serve them and provide a solid foundation for success throughout their academic and professional careers.

More than 400 historians and education professionals served as judges for the students’ work. Students were awarded prizes and recognition for their work.

• 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. The National History Day Contest was established in 1974 and currently engages more than half a million students every year in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. 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 National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. NHD is sponsored in part by HISTORY®, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, the Bezos Family Foundation, the Patricia Behring Foundation, the World Education Foundation, and the African American History Commission. For more information, visit nhd.org.

• About DeVore Essay Contest

Sponsored by the DeVore Family Fund, the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum hosts an annual Essay Contest, based on the current National History Day theme. Two winners, one winner from each of the following grade ranges (6-8 & 9-12), will receive a $250 prize!

Contest Rules: 

• All Sedgwick County students in grades 6-12 in a public, private, or parochial school, or those who are homeschooled, are eligible.
• The topic must be focused on Wichita and/or Sedgwick County history.
• The entire essay must be the student’s original work.
• Entries must be 300-600 words in length.
• Any essay with information copied directly from sources without the use of quotation marks and cited resources will be disqualified.

Form:

• The essay is to be handwritten in ink, typed, or prepared on a computer word processor, using black type in a non-script font no smaller than 12 point or larger than 14 point.
• Please include a Title Page with the following information:
  • Title of the essay
  • Contestant’s full name and age
  • Contestant’s complete mailing address
  • Telephone number
  • Email address (if available)
  • Name of contestant’s school with grade level indicated
• Essays must have a bibliography listing all references utilized. Internet resources, if used, should be cited in a similar format, along with the web address used to access the document online.

Contest Parameters:

• Two options for submission:
  • Delivered in person/mailed to: 204 S. Main Wichita, Kansas 67202
  • As a PDF emailed to: edu@wichitahistory.org
• Entries must be received by April 15, 2026
• Essays will be judged on historical accuracy, originality, content, adherence to theme, organization of material, spelling, and grammar.