Denmark

The latest Danish competition's topic "A New Beginning" sparked the imagination and inventiveness of the participants. 80 students in secondary education accepted the challenge and handed in 29 contributions. Many topics were covered, e.g. migrations history, education, city development and discoveries. On 27 March 2022, the best entries were awarded in a festive ceremony at the big Danish historical festival “Historiske Dage” in Copenhagen.

The Best Entries

Anastasia Christensen from Rosborg Gymnasium won the first prize. Her creative and detailed board game informs the players about the new beginnings that migration from Europe to America entailed.

The second prize of DKK 5,000 went to Sigrid Trettvik Petersen from Oure Kostgymnasium for her report "From State Education to Boarding School – The Story Behind Vejstruplund's White Facades". For her entry she found inspiration in her immediate surroundings: The history of the premises that house her school today sparked her interest to look deeper into the history of "Vejstruplund Pigehjem", a former state youth home that occupied the same buildings as her school does today.

A website disseminating the history of the cities Barcelona, Singapore and Brazil was Leonora Olsen’s and Olivia Tengnagel's contribution to the competition with which they won the third prize of DKK 3,000.

Jury and Competition Organisers

The Danish History Teachers' Association has been helped in the selection of the winners by a jury which this year consisted of Dr. phil. Thorkild Kjærgaard, storyteller Cecilie Nielsen, curator Jeanette Varberg and history consultant Karen Steller Bjerregaard. The Danish History Competition is organised by the History Teachers' Association which is the professional association for history teachers in secondary education in Denmark. The first prize of DKK 10,000 is sponsored by the publisher Systime. The History Teachers’ Association itself sponsors the second and third prizes. In addition to the cash prizes, there were also sponsor prizes in the form of games from Bezzerwizzer and book gift cards from Saxo.com. The next competition topic is "Communities" and again, all students in secondary education can participate. Material will be sent out before the summer holidays.