Maryland History Day

Mr. Milton Zaslow

The National Cryptologic Foundation established the Milt Zaslow Award for Cryptology for the Maryland History Day Contest with the Maryland Humanities Council (MDHC). This annual statewide contest involves over 450 students, 85 judges, plus parents and teachers. Winners go on to represent Maryland at the National History Day contest.

During the contest, there are categories for Junior and Senior school participants. Judges have guidelines for a variety of subjects, including special awards such as the Milt Zaslow Award for Cryptology that focused on cryptologic topics. The Milt Zaslow Award for Cryptology was awarded to students during the years 2013 to 2018.

During Milt's tenure as the Recognitions Committee chairman, he took great interest in the program and on several occasions served as a contest judge for cryptology. Milt was inducted into the NSA/CSS Cryptologic Hall of Honor in 2007. Read more about him HERE. 

2018 Milton Zaslow Award Winners

CONGRATULATIONS to the 2018 Junior and Senior Division level winners of the Milt Zaslow Award for Cryptology. The 2018 Maryland History Day event took place on 28 April and as always, featured exceptional and inspiring student presentations and projects. The theme for this year's event was "Conflict and Compromise in History." Click HERE to see the full list of 2018 winners. See below for details about the Zaslow Award winners' and their projects.

SENIOR DIVISION WINNER:

Student:               Emily Rand
Topic:                   Operation Mincemeat: How a Silent Spy, a Compromise, and Some Ingenuity Enabled the Allies to Push Forward to Victory in WWII

This project describes a unique form of espionage used in World War II by British intelligence. British forces wanted to invade the geographically strategic and powerful Sicily, but the German and Italian forces heavily guarded Sicily, making it almost impossible to invade without a bloody battle. So, British intelligence devised a plan to dupe the Germans into thinking the Allies were planning to invade Greece, instead of Sicily, by placing fake documents on a dead body, and planting the dead body on the coast of Spain. The body was disguised as a British soldier who had died at sea, but carried letters from one general to another, confirming an Allied invasion of Greece. This operation became known as Operation Mincemeat. German intelligence analyzed the documents and even Hitler himself studied them. Ultimately, Hitler deployed troops from Sicily to Greece, leaving Sicily weakened, and the Allies successfully invaded. Operation Mincemeat proved to be a successful, absurd war tactic.

Category:             Paper
School:                 Institute of Notre Dame
City:                      Baltimore City
Teacher:               Caitlin Connor

JUNIOR DIVISION WINNER:

Students:             Morgan Babylon, Abha Shrestha
Topic:                   ENIGMA: Alan Turing in WWII
Category:             Exhibit
School:                West Middle School
County:                Carroll County
Teacher:               Stacey Gruber

2017 Milt Zaslow Award Winners

CONGRATULATIONS to the 2017 Junior and Senior Division level winners of the Milt Zaslow Award for Cryptology. The 2017 Maryland History Day event took place on 29 April and featured, as always, exceptional and inspiring student presentations and projects. The theme for this year's event was "Taking a Stand in History." Click HERE to see the full list of 2017 winners.

2017 Senior Division Zaslow Award Winners Katherine Harvey, Kelly McGovern, and Abigail Haffey with NCMF Vice President Orville Lewis

2017 Senior Division Winners

Invisible Hero:  Tony Mendez and the Rescue of the American Houseguests During the Iranian Hostage Crisis
Students:  Katherine Harvey, Kelly McGovern, and Abigail Haffey
Teacher:  Christine Pritt
School:  Frederick Homeschoolers, Frederick County
Category:  Group Performances

2017 Junior Division Zaslow Award Winner William George with NCMF Vice President Orville Lewis

2017 Junior Division Winner

Navajo Code Talkers:  Taking a Stand in History
Student:  William George
Teacher:  Thomas Hayman
School:  Centreville Middle School, Queen Anne’s County
Category:  Individual Documentaries

2016 Milt Zaslow Award Winners

Baltimore County Delegate Adrienne Jones presents the Milt Zaslow Award for Cryptology to Junior Level Award Winner, Ms. Kelly McGovern.

Congratulations to the 2016 winners of the Milton Zaslow Award for Cryptology!

Ms. Kelly McGovern, Junior Level Award Winner, for her performance of "The Limping Lady: Virginia Hall, the Most Dangerous Allied Spy of World War II." Ms. McGovern is from Frederick County - Frederick Homeschoolers and her teacher is Ms. Christine Pritt.

Ms. Megan Tatum and Ms. Alice Walker, Senior Level Award Winners, for their performance of "Running Out of Time: The Forgotten Polish Exploration of Enigma." Ms. Tatum and Ms. Walker attend Poolesville High School in Montgomery County, MD. Their teacher is Mr. Daniel McKenna.

2015 Milt Zaslow Award Winners

Pictured here: (l to r) - NCMF President Dick Schaeffer, Srinayan Nuvvala, Alan Gorny, and Joyce Leviton, from the office of US Senator Ben Cardin. Nuvvala and Gorny were the 2015 Maryland History Day Senior Level winners of the Milt Zaslow Cryptology Award for their documentary about Alan Turing.

CONGRATULATIONS to the following winners of the 2015 Milt Zaslow Award in Cryptology!

Senior Division: Students - Alan Gorny and Srinayan Nuvvala, Documentary - "Alan Turing: Codebreaker." From Howard High School in Howard County. Teachers - Danelle Brennan and Mary Curtin.

Junior Division: Student - Grady Fort, Created a Web site - "Alan Turing: An Enigma No More." From Southern Middle School in Calvert County. Teacher - Melissa Kallfelz.

2014 Milt Zaslow Award Winners

Senior Division: Mr. Jeremy Davis was selected as the winner for his presentation, The NSA Scandal. Mr. Davis attends Bohemia Manor High School in Cecil County and his teacher is Mr. Michael Means. 

Junior Division: Ms. Carlie Domogauer and Ms. Kristen Tull were selected as the winners for their presentation, Women Spies. Ms. Domogauer and Ms. Tull attend Matapeake Middle School in Queen Anne's County and their teacher is Ms. Jillian Ferris.

2013 Milt Zaslow Award Winners

2013 Senior Division Milt Zaslow Award Winners

The 2013 Milt Zaslow Award Senior Division Winners were students from Polytechnic Institute in Baltimore, Maryland with their exhibit about "The Effect of the Navajo Code Talkers on U.S. - Native American Relations After WWII." Both the Senior and Junior winning exhibits were on display at the NCM for two weekends and the students were on hand to discuss their work and answer questions.

2013 Junior Division Milt Zaslow Award Winners

The 2013 Milt Zaslow Award Junior Division winners were students from Matapeake Middle School in Stevensville, Maryland. Their winning exhibit focused on the Navajo Code Talkers.

The ten-year grant was made possible by the generosity of the Foundation's general membership and the family of Mr. Zaslow who contributed to the Foundation's In Memoriam Program to commemorate Mr. Zaslow's many contributions to the field of cryptology. The Foundation decided that the most fitting memorial of all would be to establish a monetary award, the Milt Zaslow Award, honoring and encouraging Maryland History Day Contest participants who submit work focused on cryptology.