General Information

Contact

Eesti Ajaloo- ja Ühiskonnaõpetajate Selts (EAÜS)
The Estonian History and Civics Teachers’ Association

Evelin Tiiter

Allika 11
EE – 45201 Kadrina
Phone: +372 5224461
Email:
Homepage: www.eays.edu.ee

About the organisation

The Estonian History and Civics Teachers´ Association is a non-governmental organisation. It was founded in 1993 by history teachers from different counties and cities. Members of the association are history teachers and educators from Estonian and Russian Language Schools. The main aim of the association is to support and to develop history education in Estonia.

In order to realise its aims, EAÜS is organising the history competition, conferences, seminars, summer days, in-service training courses for teachers, excursions and other activities for teachers. Through different projects they have developed and are developing teaching material, for example "The Baltic History Textbook and Sourcebook" (with the Council of Europe, Latvia and Lithuania), a handbook for teachers on 20th century history (with Latvia and EUROCLIO). The association together with EUROCLIO also undertakes a three-year project to develop teaching material for multicultural schools. Teachers are supported to participate in international conferences and seminars.

The history competition

The aims of the competition "Õpilaste Ajalooalased Uurimistööd" (Students' History Research Competition) is to reflect on the national history and values; the preservation and continuation of connections between the generations; to deepen the students’ interest in history, widen their mental horizon, and to develop their academic skills. The competition fits into a long-standing Estonian tradition of teaching local history. Nonetheless, students’ research on this subject had never been a competitive discipline. In this respect, the competition is, indeed, groundbreaking and very different from our previous work.

Conditions for participation and requirements

The competition is held in two categories (Research and Creative Work) and two age levels. The competition is open to 5-9 and 10-12 graders as well vocational school students. The upper age limit for researchers is 21 years. Individual and group work is accepted, the assessment bases for individual and group work are the same. From 2021 onwards, works may not be submitted on paper but need to be sent digitally. All additional materials (diagrams, photocopies, etc.) can be presented within the text or at the end of the work. Videos or audio cassettes and CDs may also be added.

Jury

The jury consists of members from different research institutions. The members of the organising committee are not members of the jury. The jury will identify the best works and decide on the prizes. The jurors read the works without knowing the names of the authors.

Evaluation

Evaluation criteria are as follows:

  • ingenuity and originality in finding and approaching the research object
  • variety and originality of sources (unpublished material)
  • reliability of sources
  • ability to ocmbine different material, to evaluate it, to draw conclusions and parallels
  • composition of paper: subtopics, introduction, summary, bibliography
  • use of sources

Awards

1) The jury of research papers will award three main prizes in both age groups.


1st prize: 250 €
2nd prize: 200 €
3rd prize: 175 €

Supervisors of the awarded papers willl receive a prize of 150 €.

2) The jury of creative works will award three main prizes in both age groups.

1st prize: 150 €
2nd prize: 100 €
3rd prize: 75 €

Supervisors of the awarded works will receive a prize of 75 €

The jury has the right to reorganise the prize fund if it deems it necessary. In addition, the jury may award special prizes. All participants will receive a letter of thanks.

The authors of the winning entries have the opportunity to participate in international youth camps and there are benefits for the winners of the high school level when entering universities.

Competition Details