Since 1993, Hawaiʻi History Day, as part of the National History Day affiliate button tradition, has honored historical figures, events, places, and practices that are important to the story of Hawaiʻi. Students participating in the annual National History Day competition in Maryland, trade buttons with one another, in turn learning small fragments (sometimes knotted and frayed) of the fabric that weaves all our distant places together.
Each year, Hawaiʻi History Day consultants and Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities staff nominate a piece of Hawaiʻi history to be honored as part of the affiliate button tradition. We argue; we consider; we cherish. Multiple names are put forward for consideration—lucky we live Hawaiʻi—when we can choose only one, and there are so many to choose from. Our history is so rich—filled with so much searing, often heartbreaking, complexity—filled with depth, with courage, with grace. And so much of this history has been ignored or glossed over by conventional history books and conversations. Contemporary history scholars in Hawaiʻi are working to change this habit and we hope, in honoring and treasuring these people, events, places, and traditions, we are small part of this change.
2022 Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole
2021 Mary Kawena Pukui
2020 Emma Nakuina
2019 Hōkūleʻa
2018 Duke Kahanamoku
2017 Marianne Cope
2016 Princess Kaʻiulani
2015 Senator Daniel Inouye
2014 Humanities in Hawaiʻi
2013 ʻIolani Palace
2012 Patsy Mink
2011 Joseph Kahoʻoluhi Nāwāhi
2010 2oth Anniversary of Hawaiʻi History Day
2009 50th Anniversary of Hawaiʻi Statehood
2008 Nāhiʻenaʻena
2007 King David Kalākaua
2006 Bernice Pauahi Bishop
2005 Communications in History
2004 Exploration, Encounter, & Exchange in History
2003 Father Damien
2002 Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole
2001 Queen Kaʻahumanu
2000 King Kamehameha
1999 Celestial Navigation
1998 Hōkūleʻa
1997 Queen Liliʻuokalani
1996 Taking a Stand in History
1995 Ke Kānāwai Māmalahoe, The Law of the Splintered Paddle
1994 Hōkūleʻa
1993 Hawaiian Communications
1992 Seeds of Change