School students from across Australia attended the 2024 National History Challenge presentation ceremony on 25 November 2024 at Australian Parliament House to celebrate the winners of this year’s challenge.
The National History Challenge is a free competition which gives primary and secondary students the opportunity to research world history and discover Australia’s past.
This year’s theme was Crisis and Response, with more than 750 schools registering and 6,500 entries from across the country. Awards were given to students in the following categories: the National Young Historian of the Year, State and Territory Young Historians, six year-level winners and winners in sponsored categories.
Ava Percy was announced as the 2024 National Young Historian of the Year for her video about the downfall of cyclist Lance Armstrong and the doping crisis which pervaded the sport. Ava won the award for the National Year Level for Year 7, Special Category winner for History of Sport, and the state and territory Young Historian award for Tasmania.
Other winners included Isuli Perera who won the Year Level 10 award for her zine Won’t stay quiet which explored women in the punk movement and the evolution of Riot Grrl; Matthew Fernades who won the Asia and Australia award for his visual essay on Refugees in the Vietnam war; and Oliver Newman who won the Western Australia award for his video which explored how vapes, originally a response to the ongoing cigarette crisis, have become a crisis in themselves.
Speakers at the event included Ms Catherine Baron, President of the History Teachers’ Association of Australia, Ms Elizabeth McGinnis, Chair of the National History Challenge, and Minister for Education, the Hon Jason Clare MP.
Minister Clare praised the 2024 winners for the standard of their work.
“Today we are surrounded by inspiring young people who have researched the past and show they are looking forward to the future – theirs and ours,” Minister Clare said.
“The entries from this year’s winners were very thoughtful in the way they applied the theme Crisis and Response and are sure to inspire next year’s participants.
“I look forward to even more schools registering for the 2025 challenge, with even more participants.”
The theme for next year’s challenge is ‘Conflict and Resolution’.
The National History Challenge is supported by the Australian Government Department of Education through the Civics and Citizenship Education program.
To see the full list of award winners and find out more, visit: National History Challenge for Australian Students