2025 VGA Story Map Contest

2025 VGA Story Map Contest

The Virginia Geographic Alliance promotes geo-literacy by providing effective professional development programs that enhance the teaching and learning of geography and that demonstrate the value of geographic knowledge and spatial thinking to educators, policy makers, and community members.

The Virginia Geographic Alliance fosters and supports the enduring power of the geographic perspective in social, environmental and geospatial sciences as they develop in schools, universities, businesses, governments and communications media to advance geo-literacy. Acquiring geographic knowledge, skills and technologies enables people to become productive citizens and lifelong learners who

recognize the importance of place and local-to-global connections,
►understand changing human-environment interactions, and
►apply environmental and spatial perspectives in decision-making and problem-solving.

Professional Learning

Resources

About

Upcoming Events

  • 2025 VGA Story Map Competition

    It is again time for the annual VGA Story Map Competition. The competition is open to all middle and high school students in the Commonwealth.

    Students are invited to explore a situation in Virginia and share their results in a ESRI story map.  This year's competition theme will focus on  "Virginia's urban, rural and suburban connections."  More information on this year's contest theme can be found here.

  • Virginia Humanities Educator Fellowship

    What: Environmental Justice and Community Storytelling Tour of the Virginia Peninsula

    Where: Newport News and Hampton, VA

    When: April 14, 2025, 12:00 - 5:00pm

    Cost: FREE! Thanks to the generous support of conference sponsors, there is no cost to participants. Virginia K12 teachers may also qualify for additional travel funding.

    Background: As a part of the 2025 Hampton Roads Social Justice Conference, there will be a pre-conference Environmental Justice and Community Storytelling Tour of the Virginia Peninsula. The tour will begin with a 90-minute working lunch where participants will develop an understanding of environmental justice and the important role of community voices in advocating for environmental equity. This will be followed by a guided tour to three sites of pronounced environmental injustice in Newport News and Hampton. At each site, the group will be joined by local environmental justice advocates who will share the history and details of the environmental justice issues at that place. The tour will conclude with a debriefing session focused on the roles that Virginia communities can play in fostering environmental change.

    Priority application deadline: Friday, March 7. Submissions received after this date will be considered based on availability.

    Initial admissions decisions: Monday, March 10

    Tour date: Monday, April 14, 12-5pm

    Hampton Roads Social Justice Conference: Tuesday, April 15 - Wednesday, April 16

    Have questions? Contact Dr. Johnny Finn (john.finn@cnu.edu, 757-594-7939)

    Click here for more information and to apply.

  • VGA Revolutionary Crossroads Field Experience June 2025

    Now Accepting Applications

    Calling all VA teachers interested in Early American and Revolutionary War history!

    Travel with the Virginia Geographic Alliance June 22 - 29, 2025 to experience, reflect, and commemorate 250 years of US independence in one of the most dynamic and critical geographic areas in American and World history.  Fort Ticonderoga, Lake George, Fort William Henry, Lake Champlain, Saratoga, Fort Orange (Albany), and the Mohawk Valley contain some of the most significant sites and situations that shaped the United States.  This 7-day experience will provide participants with the opportunity to visit historic sites and museums while working with scholars and archivists to consider and reflect on the significance of our country's semiquincentennial  through a geographic and multi-perspective lens.  Selected participants will receive a stipend for successfully completing the experience and creating a lesson plan.  Local program travel expenses covered by VGA.

    Applications are due January 31h. 

    Please make a copy of the application by clicking on the button below.

  • 2025 Chesapeake Bay Institute

    We are now accepting applications for the 2025 Chesapeake Bay Climate Institute. Applications are due January 15, 2025 Join us for our fifth year in Wachapreague!

    For more information about the institute please view the story map below:

    Institute Story Map

  • Mapping the Commonwealth 1816-1826

    Explore the Creation of a

    Vital Virginia Government Document

    “Mapping the Commonwealth” exhibition runs through June 7, 2025

    A new, free exhibition at the Library of Virginia tells the story of 10 years, five governors, two principal surveyors and one lead engraver — the time frame and team needed to create one of the first official state maps in the nation.

    On view through June 7, 2025, the exhibition presents examples from 40 manuscript maps that highlight the painstaking task of creating Virginia's first official state map. Correspondence and other documents related to the publication of the map, as well as copperplates — printing plates used for engraving — are also displayed in the exhibition. Combining art and science, these surveys attest to the dedication, skill and stamina of surveying teams who worked without the benefit of GPS and today’s technology.

Features

  • two-page view

  • 40 full-page maps

  • over 40 narrative pages of nonfiction text

  • text features to support literacy skills

  • 51 mini maps as graphics

  • tables, charts, and diagrams

  • links to 65 interactive online maps and apps

  • geography, history, science, English/language arts, and math content

  • teacher guide with instructional ideas