HISTORY® and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Award Scholarships to Winners of the National Civil War Student Challenge

NEW YORK – Today, award-winning cable network HISTORY® and global education leader Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) announced the scholarship winners of The National Civil War Student Challenge — a nationwide contest in which students from across the country put their Civil War knowledge to the test. In addition to the $15,000 scholarship grand prize, HISTORY and HMH will award a $7,500 first-place scholarship, a $5,000 second-place scholarship and seven $1,000 third-place scholarships.

Over 22,000 students participated in the Civil War outreach initiative through preparation on an innovative Facebook-based game, studying with Civil War curriculum materials and taking the online Challenge in April. The 30 top-scoring finalists were then invited to take an in-school final exam to determine the scholarship winners.

Of the students from all 50 states who took the Challenge, the top winners include:

• Grand Prize Winner: Kade Long of Joshua High School in Joshua, Texas
• First Prize Winner: Alexander Frey of St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, New Jersey
• Second Prize Winner: Tyler Leard of Wissahickon Senior High School in Ambler, Pennsylvania

“These young people have demonstrated so effectively how having a firm understanding of history can shape one’s future. There is nothing theoretical about the scholarships they have won or the leg up it will give them in college,” said Libby O’Connell, Chief Historian, SVP Corporate Outreach for AETN. “I’m quite confident that their love of history will guide them to many other great achievements in the years to come.”

“HMH is committed to transforming the educational experience through innovative approaches that inspire achievement and a lifelong love of learning,” said Samuel Casey Carter, Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Social Responsibility for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Executive Director of the HMH Foundation. “This partnership is bringing history to life all across the country and we are thrilled for the students who have earned scholarship prizes today.”

HISTORY and HMH sponsored the Challenge as part of their observance of the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. Over the next four years, HISTORY will air a comprehensive lineup of Civil War-themed programming, exploring all aspects of this pivotal chapter in American history.

HISTORY first joined forces with HMH in September 2010 to revolutionize the teaching and learning of history and social studies by combining HISTORY's multimedia assets with HMH's curricula and approach, creating dynamic learning environments that weave experience-based content with traditional instruction. HISTORY and HMH kicked off this partnership last fall with We The People LIVE, a star-studded live Constitution Day educational event in Washington, D.C., that was simultaneously webcast to more than 4,000 schools nationwide and featured illustrative video excerpts from HISTORY’s award-winning epic television event America The Story of Us.


About HISTORY®
HISTORY® and HISTORY HD® are the leading destinations for revealing, award-winning original non-fiction series and event specials that connect history with viewers in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. Programming covers a diverse variety of historical genres ranging from military history to contemporary history, technology to natural history, as well as science, archaeology and pop culture. Among the network's program offerings are hit series such as American Pickers, Ax Men, Brad Meltzer’s Decoded, Ice Road Truckers, Top Gear, Pawn Stars and Top Shot, as well as acclaimed specials including America the Story of Us, WWII in HD, 102 Minutes That Changed America, The President’s Book of Secrets and Life After People. HISTORY has earned four Peabody Awards, seven Primetime Emmy® Awards, 12 News & Documentary Emmy® Awards and received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's Save Our History® campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. Take a Veteran to School Day is the network's signature initiative connecting America's schools and communities with veterans from all wars. The HISTORY website, located at www.history.com, is the leading online resource for all things history, featuring over 20,000 videos, images, audio clips, articles and interactive features that allow visitors to dig deeper into a broad range of thousands of historical topics. For more information go to www.historypressroom.com

About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 
With education products and services used by 57 million students throughout all 50 U.S. states and 120 countries, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a global education and learning company. The world’s largest provider of materials for pre-K–12 learning, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is leading the way with innovative solutions and approaches to the challenges facing education today. Through curricula excellence coupled with technology innovations and professional services, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt collaborates with school districts, administrators, teachers, parents and students, providing interactive, results-driven learning solutions. Its Educational Consulting Services group works to increase student achievement in underperforming schools by developing, implementing and supporting education transformation through sustained district partnerships.  With origins dating back to 1832, the Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning literature for adults and young readers. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com.