The National History Day - San Diego Competition provides 4th through 12th grade students with a unique experiential learning opportunity that fosters historical research, critical thinking skills, and empowers young people to explore the past, engage with the present, and shape the future. 

Beginning each fall, students choose a topic related to the annual theme and conducts primary and secondary research. After analyzing and interpreting their sources and drawing conclusions about their topics' significance in history, students present their work in original papers, exhibits, posters, performances, documentaries, websites, or podcasts.

Each year, National History Day - San Diego uses a theme to provide a lens through which students can examine history. The theme for 2026, Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History frames the research for students and is intentionally broad to allow students to select topics from any place (local, national, or world) and any period in history.

This year's competition will be held on March 7, 2026 at the University of San Diego - Mother Rosalie Hill Hall. Students will present their work to judges and the top three scoring students for each category will represent San Diego county at the state finals held May 1 through May 3, 2026 at Sacramento State University.  The top two scoring students from each category will then move on to represent California at the national competition.