What is considered part a paper's word count?  
A paper's word count includes any student-written text, quotations, or captions. Any titles or subtitles within the main text of a report are not included in the word count. Any word count from a projects title page, process paper, or annotated bibliography (including citations) are not included in the projects word count.

What is considered part of a website's word count?
A website's word count includes any words included in the body paragraphs of a website, including any words added in captions, graphs, timelines, images, videos, or sound recordings. Sourcing images DOES NOT count to the word count, but any other captions do.

What are the main aspects to focus on to win?
Students should mainly be focussing on strong historical analysis connecting to the overall theme. Judges mainly look for the student's historical evidence building on their overall argument/thesis, and being able to strongly connect their thesis to the overall theme. A student may have a lot of historical research to back their thesis up, but if they don't strongly portray its connection to the annual theme, the student's project becomes less of a strong competitor.

About when should I finish researching/When should I start creating my project?
While different projects may take more time to create, it is recommended to start creating your project atleast 3 months before the first competition/deadline. Even though the project itself may take less time than that to create, you still need to finish the title page, annotated bibliography, and process paper. Make sure to budget enough time for all of that!