National History Day in Utah is proud to announce the results of the 2026 State Contest on April 24, 2026, at Westminster University. This year, more than 5,000 students across the state explored the theme of “Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in History.” Through their research and creative presentations, these young historians demonstrated an incredible depth of understanding regarding the pivotal moments that have shaped our world.
Here are the results for the Junior, Senior, and Youth divisions. We congratulate all participants, finalists, and winners for their hard work and dedication to the craft of history.
Congratulations to all our 2026 NHD Utah students!
2026 NHD Utah Educator Awards
Mike Johnson Teachers of the Year
Julia Winslow, Providence Hall Middle School
An NHD teacher since 2019, Julia has expanded NHD from the middle to the high school. She collaborates with the art and media teachers to support students as they develop their projects across the categories. She started an after-school NHD club, where students can come in and work with a teacher on their projects.Every year she hosts a history night at the school where students showcase their projects for the community. In all of these ways, she builds confidence in her students, a love of history, and encourages them to follow their passions.
Taylor Brooks, Hillcrest High School
As a new teacher, Taylor helped develop the NHD program at Union Middle School for all 8th grade students. He was instrumental in making NHD successful at Union and helping to grow the program in Canyons District. When Taylor moved to Hillcrest High School he became one of the only high school teachers in the district to teach all of his US History students with NHD. Taylor has developed a scaffolded program that allows all students to participate and be successful in creating an NHD project. He is excellent at guiding his students to unique topics that allow them to create history projects they are interested in.
Errol Jones Service Award
Steven Olsen, Veteran Judge and NHD Mentor
Steven Olsen has recently retired from his career as an award-winning exhibit curator at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church History Department. He has served as a contest judge and mentor for our national qualifying exhibit students for over 10 years. Steve is the kind of mentor who connects with students as peers and equals. He recognizes that they are experts on their subject and interacts with them just as he would a professional colleague. Steve has been incredibly generous with his time and talent to support our students. We are so very grateful that he is part of our learning community.
NHD Utah is grateful for funding from Utah Humanities, Sorenson Legacy Foundation, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation, Marriner S. Eccles Foundation, Rocky Mountain Power Foundation; for special award sponsors Better Days, Fort Douglas Military Museum, Utah STEM Action Center, Utah State Archives, Smith-Pettit Foundation, the University of Utah, and the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at BYU.
Thank you to our regional contest partners at Utah State University, Weber State University, Salt Lake Community College, Brigham Young University, and Utah Valley University.
For more information on the NHD Utah State Contest, click here. To connect with the NHD Utah team, please email Tatiana ([email protected]).
Please note: National History Day does not censor student entries based upon content. This means that the views and opinions expressed in student entries are those of the students and/or the sources cited in their projects. They may not represent the views or opinions of the Utah Historical Society.
