Denmark

A festive award presentation on 9 March brought the 18th iteration of the Danish History Competition to a close. Organised by the Danish History Teachers' Organisation for (Upper) Secondary Schools, this year’s competition motivated school students to investigate history under the headline “War and Peace.” The final ceremony took place in the exhibition space Øksnehallen, Copenhagen, as part of the history festival “Historiske Dage” that offered more than 150 events and attracted around 10,000 visitors.

The participants faced the challenging task to research a historical event relating to “War and Peace” and to create a compelling narrative using any form of media. The 16 to 19-year-old students competed for the awards of the contest as well as three generous prizes of 10,000 DKK that were sponsored by the renowned educational publishing houses Columbus, Praxis and Systime.

This year’s winning entries stood out through their creative use of a variety of materials. Søren und Emil, pupils at Kruses Gymnasium in Farum placed first: they developed a thrilling and engaging board game connected to the First World War. As to the category “Most Innovative,” Malou and Sofie from Aalborg proved their unrivaled creativity. They designed and knitted sweaters for the 94-year-old Bodil and the 20-year-old Myroslav and interviewed them about their experience with the Russian occupation and the war against Ukraine. Finally, the special award of the jury was awarded to Ida, Luna, Mathilde and Juliane, who wrote a popular scientific essay about the German perception of history and remembrance culture. All winners of the history competition received a book from the series “100 Histories of Denmark” by Aarhus University Press.

The Danish History Teachers’ Organisation warmly congratulated the “creative, ambitious and talented history students that have been pronounced winners of this year’s history competition.” Alongside with the monetary prizes, the winners will have the opportunity to apply for a fully funded study trip to Riga, Latvia, to participate in the EUSTORY Next Generation Summit.

This year’s illustrious jury of the student competition was made up of the historian Dr. Thorkild Kjærgaard, the history teacher Karen Steller Bjerregaard, the director of “Historiske Dage” festival Henrik Thorvald Rasmussen and the journalist Ole Sønnichsen.

The celebration of the outcome of the 18th Danish History Competition was one of several award ceremonies on the first day of the “Historiske Dage” festival. At the annual festival, museums, publishing houses, media outlets and history associations meet thousands of visitors to teach and talk all things history. Before the students received their awards, history teachers were awarded for innovations in their teaching, moreover, a prize for the History Book of the Year was presented.