Friday, Feb. 24, will be an historic day for middle- and high-school scholars as they bring their research projects to the Middle Tennessee District History Day Competition at MTSU.

Students in grades six through 12 will present history-themed projects in a variety of formats, including museum-style exhibits, papers, websites, documentaries and even live performances. University professors, high-school teachers, museum curators, archivists and other public historians will serve as judges.

This year’s MTSU-based event is expected to attract more than 200 middle- and high-school participants from 30 middle Tennessee counties. Nationwide, more than 500,000 students are expected to participate in some level of History Day competition, including 5,000 from across Tennessee.

The 2012 theme is “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History,” and students will examine how social, cultural or political movements have been a force for change. The projects, which were submitted by the Feb. 7 deadline, will be judged in the Keathley University Center, culminating in an awards ceremony in the KUC Theater.

MTSU’s History Department and the College of Liberal Arts have co-sponsored the Middle Tennessee District History Day competition since 2002. It’s one of four district events in Tennessee that lead to a statewide competition in April; state winners advance to the National History Day finals in College Park, Md., in June.

At the state level, MTSU partners with the Tennessee Historical Society, which began hosting the statewide competition in 2009. At the campus level, History Day partners include MTSU’s Holocaust Studies and Middle East Studies programs, both of which sponsor special awards.

The group also has a wide network of partner organizations and agencies, such as the Tennessee State Library and Archives, American Association for State and Local History and the Rutherford County Archives, who send staff each year to serve as competition judges.

For more information about the History Day Competition on campus, contact the History Day Office at histday@mtsu.edu or  visit www.tennesseehistory.org/historyday.htm.