2009 State Contest Registration

Note: This page is under construction, and will change frequently as we add information to address questions about the online registration system.

Students must qualify to enter the Colorado state History Day contest by first competing in one of the ten regional contests held throughout the state. For more information on the regional contest nearest you, please refer to the list of Regional Contests.

Registering for the State Contest

We are using an online registration system provided by the National History Day program to register participants and teachers for the state History Day contest , starting with the 2009 contest.

The registration opens on Wednesday, February 4, 2009 for the regional winners from the first contest in San Luis Valley. After that, each region’s winners will be able to register as soon as their contest is over.

Registration Deadlines

The deadline to complete registration, including fee payment, is Friday, March 27 for participants in all regions EXCEPT Mountain Region (Frisco) and Denver Public Schools. The deadline to register for Mountain Region (Frisco) and Denver Public Schools is Friday, April 10. The online registration system will close on Saturday, April 18, at 12:01 a.m. After that time, please notify the CHD state office of any changes by email (colorado.history.day@ucdenver.edu) or by phone (303-556-6647).

Information for Teachers

You will initiate the registration process for your students. Once you have entered some basic information about each participant and the entry, then each participant will be able to access the system to complete his/her registration. The NHD system provides good instructions to help walk you through the process.

The web address for the registration system is http://co.nhd.org/register

The very first time you use the registration system, you will have to identify yourself to the system by establishing a username and password. Therefore, the very first time you access the system, click on the red link that says (Don’t have a username and password? Click here to begin.)

Here are the steps for teachers to complete registration:

Create a username and password
Enter contact information
If necessary, set up a new school (should apply primarily to home schools)
If necessary, enter a co-teacher
Enter students, creating a 4-digit identifying number for each student. Be sure to let your students know what number you set up for them
Enter information on the entries, then link each entry to students you have already set up. You must enter an entry title to be able to complete the registration

Steps or information that are required are indicated with a red asterisk *

When you have successfully completed these steps, you should see three green check marks, one for "Who You Are," one for "Your School(s) or School District(s)" and one for "Student Entries."

Notes:

The NHD system asks each teacher and student to provide the last four digits of his/her social security number. You are not obligated to use your social security number. Instead, you can use any four digits that will be easy for you to remember. Teachers, you will be entering this four-digit number for your students; you can just make up the number and tell your students what it is, or you can ask your students to give you the number they would like to use

If you need to set up a school, please be aware that what we call regions, NHD calls districts. So on the school setup screen, when it asks for School District, it really means the region in which your student(s) participated. Please enter one of the following ten regions in Colorado:

Boulder Valley                                     Northeast (Greeley)

Colorado Springs                               San Luis Valley

Denver Public Schools                      Southeast (Pueblo)

Greater Denver Metro                         Southwest (Durango)

Mountain (Frisco)                                Western Slope (Grand Junction)

If there are special circumstances with an entry, such as the need to be judged in a certain time frame, or the entry is sharing equipment with another entry, you can indicate that as part of the registration process

Please be sure that you and your students enter valid email addresses, as email will be our primary communication method

If the students would like to nominate their entry for a special award, that is done as part of the student registration process

You and your students can return to the registration system if you are not able to complete all the information at one time. For example, you can fill out basic information on an entry in one session, then fill out the payment information in a later session

Special information for home school participants:

If you are a home school teacher, you will need to set up your “school” in the system. Once you have logged on, one of the choices under Step 1 of teacher registration is to Add A School. Please set up your school name as “Last Name Home School” (for example, Smith Home School). For the School District field, enter the region in which your student participated. There is a list of the ten regions in Colorado above.

Fees

There is a registration fee of $10 per student (not per entry). There are no fees for teachers.

We would never turn down an entry because of inability to pay the fees. Please let us know of these circumstances, and we will waive the fee.

The only form of payment that we can accept is a check. Checks should be made out to University of Colorado

There are some different options for recording payments in the registration system, depending on who is paying the fees:

If the individual student(s) or their families will be responsible to pay for the student’s registration fees, then each student should complete the payment information as part of his/her registration

If a school will pay the registration fees for all students from that school, then the teachers should complete the payment information for their students as part of their registration process

Notes:

The system will ask you to provide information on the check that will be used for payment (name on check and check number). Frankly, we in the state office do not care whether that information is accurate. Therefore, particularly for situations where a school or school district is paying the fees for a group of students, don't worry that you don't know the check number or the name on the check. Just enter whatever you want in the "name on check" and "check number" fields.

Information for Students

Before you use the registration system, your teacher needs to have set you up and linked you to an entry. Your teacher will also have established a four-digit identification code for you (the system refers to this as the last four digits of your social security number, but you are not required to use your social security number, and in fact we encourage teachers to simply make up a number for you.) The very first time you use the registration system, even though your teacher has already set you up, you will have to identify yourself to the system by establishing a username and password. Therefore, the very first time you access the system, click on the red link that says (Don’t have a username and password? Click here to begin.)

Here are the steps for students to complete their registration:

Identify yourself to the system as a student who has already been set up (you need to know the four-digit number the teacher set up for you to complete this step)
Create a username and password
Set up your contact information
Access your entry information and double-check that the title and category/division are correct. (You or someone else in your group entry MUST access the entry information at least once to be able to complete registration)
If you wish to nominate your entry for a special award, complete that information. Click here for more information on the special awards for this year's contest
If you wish, provide information onyour local media so we can notify them if you win an award at the state contest
If you wish, you can pre-order the state History Day tee-shirt or other merchandise

Once you have completed all of this information, as the last step you enter information on the payment method. If you are part of a group, you cannot complete the payment information until the other members of your group have also filled out their registration information. You can return to complete the payment information later, after you have filled outand saved your other information.

When you have completed the payment information, please print the payment sheet and send it with your check. When we receive your check, we will note that we have received your payment.

Troubleshooting the registration system

Help! When I try to use the system, none of the links are active.
It may be that you accidentally accessed the tutorial for the system rather than the actual system. To make sure you’re in the right place, access the registration system at http://co.nhd.org/register. Near the bottom of the page, it says To begin or continue registration, select your competition from the list below., then below that it says Colorado History Day 2009. Click the link Colorado History Day 2009 to access the registration system.

I am a student, and even though my teacher has set me up, I can’t get into the system.
Even though your teacher has set you up, the first time you access the system you do NOT have a username and password. So the first time you use the system, click on the red link that says (Don't have a username and password? Click here to begin.) Once you have set up a username and password, then you can go into the system and register

The number that my teacher set up for the last four digits of my social security number is not the correct number.
You do not have to use the actual last four digits of your social security number in that field, and in fact we encourage teachers to just make something up, as your social security number is none of our business. You do need to know what number the teacher set up for you to be able to complete your registration.

I am a student, and my name is misspelled (or my entry title is incorrect).
You can make corrections to your name or the title of your entry in the student part of the registration, though your teacher had to set up that information initially.

I am a student, and I can get into the system to set up my contact information, but I can’t seem to complete my information to proceed to the payment section.
As part of the teacher registration, the teacher must set up all of the students, then set up the information on the entries, then link the entries to students. If the teacher has forgotten either to set up the entries, or forgotten to link the entries to students, then the system does not have the complete information it needs to know who you are as a student, and will not let you complete your information. If this is the problem, you will not see anything listed under Entry Information on your main registration page. You as a student cannot fix this problem yourself -- your teacher has to make the fix. If you are having difficulties, please contact the state office and we may be able to make the fix for you.

Another possibility is that if you are part of a group, you cannot complete payment information until ALL of the members of your group have registered. So bug your fellow group members to get registered!

I am a teacher, and the school will be paying the fees for all of my students. How can I enter the payment information for all my students at once?
At the top of the teacher registration main page is a link that says View/Pay Your Student’s Fees. However, before you can enter the payment information for your students, ALL of your students have to have registered and filled out their information completely.

Help! I am a student and my school is paying my fees, but I don’t know the name on the check or the check number to enter for the payment information.
The state History Day office does not care if the information that is entered for a check is accurate, so just make something up.