The history competition
In Moldova, the History Competition was announced for the first time in 2017 within an interregional project, supported by the German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt). Winners of the first edition were encouraged to apply for participation in the Berlin History Camp in 2018 and 2019.
On March 30, 2019 the National Association of Young Historians of Moldova (ANTIM) became an official member of the international network EUSTORY. This affiliation means that EUSTORY competitions will take place in the Republic of Moldova on a regular basis. The established partnership with DVV International Office in Moldova is being maintained and developed.
Requirements
The purpose of the competition is to encourage secondary school and high school pupils (14-18 years old), as well as first and second your college or university students (19-21 years old) to explore subjects in the field of local history and to identify unknown local heroes. The heroes of the study should not be well-known and recognised personalities. The applicants should discover heroes from among ordinary people. The subjects of the research may refer not only to the history of Romanians from Moldova, but can also reflect facts and events from the history of any ethnic group.
Submissions must have a local or biographical approach to the chosen topic and participants have to work with original sources. In the first edition students could organise their investigations in the form of posters, essays, academic journals or chronicles. In the upcoming edition,s contest organisers consider opening new possibilities for students’ creativity, allowing film-making and photo-album presentations.
During the research period that covers several months, young participants have to interact with the tutor, choose a topic for the project and the way they want to present research results. Besides guidance from teachers-tutors, participating students will benefit from training sessions on public speaking. At least 20 finalists of the contest will be invited to present their works in front of the jury, as part of the assessment process.
In order to give all participants a fair chance and to encourage them to join the competition, the Jury accepts entries written in Romanian, Russian or English.
Jury
The jury consisting of five professionals - historians, teachers, archivists, and museum experts - evaluates entries against a grid with criteria dealing with content, methodology and argumentation of ideas. In the first edition 101 entries were submitted and assessed. The jury takes into consideration the age of the participants and the category of entries submitted.
Awards
Prize categories: I, II and III, special prizes and mentions are awarded to participants in various age and research type categories. All participants who submitted entries and their tutors are recognised with certificates of participation.
The first edition generated 24 winners, out of whom four finalists participated in the EUSTORY Camp in Berlin in November of 2018. Other finalists will participate in the annual Berlin History Camp in the upcoming editions.
