Denmark

The topic of the Danish history competition in 2012 was “Democracy.” In the period from September to November 2012 approximately 30 students participated in the competition. There were 12 contributions from different Danish high schools.

The winning contribution was a video about the Arab spring made by three young students from Rysensteen High School in Copenhagen: Jacob Ungar Felding, Shila Sharifi and Celia Faye Jacobsen. They asked themselves whether democracy could defeat cultural differences, and they came up with a very creative and profound video about the last years historical clashes, based on the theories of the US-American scientists Francis Fukuyama and Samuel P. Huntington.

Using historical examples, the students showed that both theories can be verified, and that it is an open question whether the development in Northern Africa and the Middle East will tend to prove either Fukuyamas or Huntington’s predictions.

The jury, history adviser Lene Jeppesen, novel writer Rasmus Dahlberg and the head of the Danish parliament Mogens Lykketoft, were very pleased with this contribution, especially because of its interesting presentation and solid handling of the historical theories.

The minister of education, Christine Antorini, invited the prize winners to her office on 30 January 2013. A short article about this ceremony can be read on the minister’s homepage.