Heart of Europe Debating Tournament

The Heart of Europe Debating Tournament is a WSDC (World Schools Debating Championships) based international debate tournament founded by John L. Wickham and the students of Olomouc - Hejcin High School. Originally a competition for high school students of European countries that had previously participated in the KPDP (Karl Popper Debate Program) established by OSI (Open Society Institute), after some time it became a truly global competition for high school debaters. The first Heart of Europe Debating Tournament was held in Olomouc, Czech Republic in 2001. The event attracted participants from Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In 2002, the tournament didn't take place because the organizers were not able to obtain the necessary funding. Nonetheless, a year later, in 2003, the second year of the tournament was held. It has been hosted in Olomouc, Czech Republic every time since then, being organised by Debate Club Olomouc throughout the years 2004–2009. Heart of Europe has lately become an annual event and has been organised by the Association of Debate Clubs of Olomouc Region since 2010.

The year 2010 was a real step-up for the tournament, having had 17 countries participate, including such exotic ones as South Africa and China that engaged in the Grand Final of this year.

In year 2011 there was really significant step in improvement of quality of the tournament. Organising Committee established cooperation withPalacky University Olomouc. All the debates took place in magnificent building of Faculty of Science. The tournament also received new visual style in this year and a lot of work on promotion was done, such as new social networks, photo and video documentation. New participating countries were Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Singapore and Sweden.

Year 2012 was the greatest cornerstone in the history of the tournament. It was held by a new organization, Czech Debate Society, o. s.. For the first time, the tournament was also available online to participants all around the world because of the project "Heart of Europe accessible to everyone". What more, one additional new project was connected with the promotion of the tournament, The Czech Debate TV, with purpose to monitor debate and educational events and present educational videos. The tournament enjoyed fruitful partnerships with projects Debating Europe and The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic - European Affairs Information Department. In that year we have yet again welcomed several new nations, namely Chile, Nigeria, Macedonia, as well as it was the 5th anniversary of Jakub Kadlec' involvement with the tournament.

2013 was the 10th anniversary of Heart of Europe and the tournament got its mascot Herr Heart. The biggest innovation of Heart of Europe 2013 was a test run of the British Parliamentary track before the high school competition, which proved to be a success and will be repeated in the future. As for the staff, the Chief Adjudicator panel was changed – extended to include judges from all over the planet in order to increase its diversity. There were also new participating countries (such as Croatia or Ukraine) and new partnerships made, mainly the one with Debate Club Pandora in Kiev, which later resulted in CDS helping with organization at their tournament called Under Chestnut Trees. Other new partners and sponsors included ARGO, ČEZ or Deleo. In terms of cultural program, Heart of Europe newly included a talent show, where everyone was invited to showcase any skill other than debating. Several debaters and judges performed singing, playing an instrument, dancing as well as some acting and stand up comedy. The next addition was a thematic tour of the city, which was special that year because of historical costumes and props used to demonstrate the legends of Olomouc. Additionally, registration to the tournament was tied to a blood donorship initiative.

Year 2014 was most notable by the outstanding quality of the teams, even by the already quite high standard of the tournament - perhaps a result of multiple delegations spending several years prior to 2014 honing their skills at our tournament every year. The teams were also extraordinarily balanced. In the first break round, the last team to make the break from the 16th place defeated the first team, two members of which were still the best two speakers of the whole tournament. The team with the best two speakers was from South Africa, just like the team that ultimately won the whole tournament, only from an entirely different institution, thus also continuing the regular cycle of different continent winning each year. This was also the first year after the definitive retirement of the founder of the tournament, John L. Wickham, from the position of Chief Judge, making it a bit of an experiment in new organizational procedures. The new paradigm for the future of the tournament was decided to be a rotating position of a chief judge, open to new ascending debate stars, as well as experienced debate masters. New participating countries were Bermuda,[1] China and Denmark. Czech Debate Society, o. s. has changed name to Czech Debate Society, z. s. in accordance with new civil code.

Heart of Europe 2016 had again grown in size in 2016 to 40 teams, including some new additions to participating states like Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, Peru, Qatar, and Spain. One of the ongoing trends that became especially apparent this time was the increase in the skill and experience level of the participating debaters. In part, this was happening because larger portion of the debaters were returning ones who have previously participated at Heart of Europe. At the same time, more high level international debaters were attracted to the tournament by its rising significance in the world debating circuit over the last couple of years. The motions debated in qualification rounds covered a range of topics from education, through women’s rights, to global economics. The grand final debate dealt with the issue of residual European colonialism, and it happened between the teams from Canada and Denmark, with the Canadians taking the prize.

Heart of Europe International DT has become very popular during past years. There have been participants from countries such as Argentina, Belarus, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Nigeria, Palestine, Peru, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and United States of America.

All debates in the tournament are in English. This is for practical reasons, but it means that many countries debate in what is for them a foreign language. This has not stopped a number of these teams being very successful. Special awards have been introduced for the highest-ranked teams made-up of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) and English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) speakers.

From December 2012, Heart of Europe Debating Tournament has an official mascot – Herr Heart! Then Chief Adjudicator of the tournament, John Wickham, commented on it:

Introducing this mascot and promoting blood giving all around the world is another significant milestone for the Czech Debate Society and the tournament itself. It is in line with the tournament’s mission to develop cooperation among the youth and to foster cultural and social understanding and exchange. Herr Heart represents the sharpness, love for freedom and effort to help and to improve the neighbourhood, which is essential for debaters, as well as the hospitality and openness of organisers and the tournament itself.

John Wickham also explained the concept behind the logo for the HOEDT, saying that the heart in the middle of the Europe silhouette represents the central position of the place, from where the HOEDT helps spread freedom of speech, the centre of Europe which really is a crossroad of cultures. The logo also indicates the communication that will bring the students from various cultures closer to each other.

The colors chosen for the logo represent national colors of the country, as well as vitality and democracy. Herr Heart also brings a new motto, not just for our blood donor initiative, but for the tournament as a whole – Debate Is Life. Just like the blood is necessary to oxygenate the body, debating nurtures the mind, while it is literally saving lives even further through promoting peace and helping people of all ages and cultures live to the fullest. We at the HOEDT certainly live for the debate and that is why the debate lives here too.

Heart of Europe Debating Tournament debates use a special format known as 'World Schools Style Debating'. This is a combination of the British Parliamentary and Australia-Asian debating, designed to meet the needs of the tournament. Each debate comprises eight- minute speeches delivered by two three-member teams (the Proposition and the Opposition). Each speaker delivers an eight-minute speech; then both teams deliver a "reply speech" lasting four minutes, with the last word being reserved for the Proposition. Between the end of the first and the beginning of the last minute of an eight-minute speech, the opposing party may offer "points of information". The speaker may refuse these, but should take at least one or two points during his or her speech.

Originally the plan was to use KPDP style of debate at Heart of Europe Debating Tournament. However, 'World Schools Style Debating' was used in many more countries for their national competitions, including Australia, Argentina, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa, Slovenia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Wales, so the Organizing Committee has decided to use it.

The HOE DT normally takes place over the course of seven days. Each national team competes in eight preliminary debates: four prepared debates and four impromptu debates (for which teams have one hour to prepare). Once the eight preliminary rounds have been completed, the 16 best teams compete in knock-out debates (known as the Octofinals) culminating in a Grand Final. For each debate, three judges (or more in later rounds) mark each debater on his or her style, content and strategy.

The British Parliamentary Track of the Heart of Europe international debating tournament was first introduced in 2013, the 10th anniversary of the event. It took place between 29 July and 1 August 2013 and it was an international debating competition for university students in the most common format for this type of contest – the British Parliamentary debating, involving 4 teams of two university students in a single debate, representing two governments (affirming the motion) and two oppositions (negating the motion). The Chief Judge was Martin Rezny from the Czech Republic and the winning team was from Sweden.

In 2014, BP track was led by one of the winners of last year's BP track, Alexander Mäkela from Sweden, who introduced a special kind of motion for the last preliminary round – a hypothetical fictional scenario. Given the positive reception of the motion (in this case dealing with alien invasion), the experiment will likely turn into a tradition in the future years. There were 12 teams participating and the winning team was once again from Sweden.

The BP Track in 2015 has almost doubled in size since previous year including two new nations (Thailand and Great Britain), and the Chief Judge was once again Martin Rezny from the Czech Republic. The fictional scenario motion was about zombie apocalypse this time around, and even the real world motions shifted towards more unusual topics, such as astrology or robotics. The positive reception of this focus will therefore likely also become a trend at this event. The winning team was from Great Britain, the best speaker being Duncan Crowe, who just weeks after this event became a finalist of the EUDC 2015 in Vienna as well.

The Chief Adjudication Team (CAT) of HOEDT is selected by the Chief Judge with the help of the Chief Organizer. The number of members may vary, though an odd number is more practical in terms of the CAT assembling a functional judging panel. While the principles behind the selection of the CAT members may vary as well, the CAT should consist of experienced judges of international tournaments in appropriate debate formats. In 2013, a new convention was established by extending the CAT to 5 members, each ideally representing a different region of the world.

2013 Chief Adjudication Team

Year	Surname	Name	Country	Position
2013	Wickham	John L.	United Kingdom	Head of CAP
2013	Polsak	Aljosa	Slovenia	Member of CAP Tabulation Officer
2013	Mohanoe	Itumeleng Kenneth	South Africa	Member of CAP
2013	Sovaiala	Nae	Romania	Member of CAP
2013	Cena	Frankie	Canada	Member of CAP

2014 Chief Adjudication Team

Year	Surname	Name	Country	Position
2014	Chalabi	Wissam	Sweden	Head of CAP
2014	Cvikl	Eva Nike	Slovenia	Member of CAP
2014	Mohanoe	Itumeleng Kenneth	South Africa	Member of CAP
2014	Belafi	Carmen	Germany	Member of CAP
2014	Cena	Frankie	Canada	Member of CAP

2015 Chief Adjudication Team

Year	Surname	Name	Country	Position
2015	Mohanoe	Itumeleng Kenneth	South Africa	Head of CAP
2015	Cena	Frankie	Canada	Member of CAP
2015	Ivanovski	Petar	North Macedonia	Member of CAP

2016 Chief Adjudication Team

Year	Surname	Name	Country	Position
2016	Mohanoe	Itumeleng Kenneth	South Africa	Head of CAP
2016	Tabyanian	Dena	Canada	Member of CAP
2016	Krawczyk	Laura	Poland	Member of CAP
2016	Mazilu	Simona Anca	Romania	Member of CAP
2016	Vildosola	Delfina Maria	Argentina	Member of CAP

The Heart of Europe Debating Tournament is governed by the Organising Committee, which is nominated by Executive Board of Czech Debate Society (CDS) and is made up of representatives and members of CDS and volunteers. Decisions are made by democratic votes of the Organising Committee members. The Organising Committee decides which town in Czech Republic will host the tournament, monitors and revises the HOE DT rules, handles matters such as adjudication, language issues, education and finance. Since 2010 till 2012 the procedure was run by Association of Debate Clubs Olomouc Region.

There is a Code of Ethics of HOE DT which contains the aims of the tournament and three basic principles. The principles ensure that there is no censorship of motions for debate, and that all teams take part on an equal basis. All participants and all hosts must agree to abide by the Code of Ethics before taking part.

2012 Organising Committee

Year	Surname	Name	Country	Position
2012	Kadlec	Jakub	Czech Republic	Chief Organiser Head of Association of Debate Clubs of Olomouc Region Finance Visas Motion Committee Member of CAP
2012	Wickham L.	John	United Kingdom	Head of Chief Adjudicator' Panel (CAP) Motion Committee
2012	Polsak	Aljosa	Slovenia	Tabulation Officer Member of CAP
2012	Bc. Machacek	Lukas	Czech Republic	Registration Officer Motion Committee
2012	Cerna	Tereza	Czech Republic	Delegates Care and Logistics Officer
2012	Bc. Rezny	Martin	Czech Republic	PR & Media Officer
2012	Burget	Lukas	Czech Republic	Complaints Officer
2012	Ligurska	Klara	Czech Republic	Complaints Officer

2013 Organising Committee

Year	Surname	Name	Country	Position
2013	Kadlec	Jakub	Czech Republic	Chief Organiser Chief Organiser Head of Czech Debate Society (CDS) Finance Visas Motion Committee
2013	Wickham L.	John	United Kingdom	Head of Chief Adjudicator' Panel (CAP) Motion Committee
2013	Polsak	Aljosa	Slovenia	Tabulation Officer Member of CAP
2013	Bradac	Jiri	Czech Republic	Registration Officer Motion Committee
2013	Cerna	Tereza	Czech Republic	Delegates Care
2013	Sladky	Jakub	Czech Republic	Logistics Officer Project Manager of Czech Debate Society (CDS)
2013	Bc. Rezny	Martin	Czech Republic	PR & Media Officer
2013	Burget	Lukas	Czech Republic	Complaints Officer
2013	Ligurska	Klara	Czech Republic	Complaints Officer Member of Registration Team

2014 Organising Committee

Year	Surname	Name	Country	Position
2014	Kadlec	Jakub	Czech Republic	Chief Organiser Head of Czech Debate Sociaety (CDS) Finance Visas Motion Committee Member of Registration Team
2014	Chalabi.	Wissam	Sweden	Head of Chief Adjudicator' Panel (CAP) Motion Committee
2014	Polsak	Aljosa	Slovenia	Tabulation Officer
2014	Fink	Jernej	Slovenia	Tabulation Officer
2014	Bc. Machacek	Lukas	Czech Republic	Registration Officer Motion Committee
2014	Cerna	Tereza	Czech Republic	Delegates Care
2014	Tichy	Antonin	Czech Republic	Socials Officer
2014	Dankova	Denisa	Czech Republic	Logistics Officer & Catering Officer
2014	Bc. Rezny	Martin	Czech Republic	Communications Officer
2014	Waic	Vlastimil	Czech Republic	Complaints Officer
2014	Ligurska	Klara	Czech Republic	Complaints Officer Member of Registration Team

2015 Tournament Organising Committee

Year	Surname	Name	Country	Position
2015	Kadlec	Jakub	Czech Republic	Chief Organiser Head of Czech Debate Sociaety (CDS) Finance Housekeeping Visas Motion Committee Member of Registration Team
2015	Mohanoe	Itumeleng Kenneth	South Africa	Head of Chief Adjudicator' Panel (CAP) Motion Committee
2015	Klos	Stepan	Czech Republic	Tabulation Officer
2015	Azaz	Daniel	Slovenia	Tabulation Officer
2015	Waic	Vlastimil	Czech Republic	Registration Officer Project Manager of Czech Debate Society (CDS)
2015	Cerna	Tereza	Czech Republic	Delegates Care Officer
2015	Siwkova	Hana	Czech Republic	Socials Officer
2015	Dobes	Pavel	Czech Republic	Logistics Officer
2015	Dankova	Denisa	Czech Republic	Catering Officer
2015	Mgr. Rezny	Martin	Czech Republic	Communications Officer
2015	Sulc	Josef	Czech Republic	IT Administrator
2015	Ligurska	Klara	Czech Republic	Complaints Officer Member of Registration Team

The current 2016 Tournament Organising Committee

Year	Surname	Name	Country	Position
2016	Kadlec	Jakub	Czech Republic	Chief Organiser Head of Czech Debate Sociaety (CDS) Finance Housekeeping Visas Motion Committee Member of Registration Team
2016	Mohanoe	Itumeleng Kenneth	South Africa	Head of Chief Adjudicator' Panel (CAP) Motion Committee
2016	Klos	Stepan	Czech Republic	Tabulation Officer
2016	Azaz	Daniel	Slovenia	Tabulation Officer
2016	Waic	Vlastimil	Czech Republic	Registration Officer Complains Officer Project Manager of Czech Debate Society (CDS)
2016	Matylda	Klosova	Czech Republic	Delegates Care Officer
2016	Osypiuk	Gosia	Poland	Socials Officer
2016	Dobes	Pavel	Czech Republic	Logistics Officer Medical Officer
2016	Kuzminova	Veronika	Czech Republic	Catering Officer
2016	Mgr. Rezny	Martin	Czech Republic	Venue Manager
2016	Gardavsky	Ondrej	Czech Republic	PR & Media Officer
2016	Sulc	Josef	Czech Republic	IT Administrator
2016	Ligurska	Klara	Czech Republic	Complaints Officer Member of Registration Team

British Parliamentary Styly (highschoolers and university students)

• July 11–13, 2017 - to be held in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Chief Organizer is Jakub Kadlec and Chief Adjudicator is going to be confirmed later.

World Style (highschoolers)

• July 13–18, 2017 - to be held in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Chief Organizer is Jakub Kadlec, Czech Republic and Chief Adjudicator is Simona Anca Mazilu from Romania. .

The Goals of Heart of Europe Debating Tournament are:[2]

• to promote free speech;
• to nurture the skills of public speech and rhetorics;
• to develop cooperation among the youth;
• to advocate debate;
• to foster cultural and social understanding and exchange;
• to promote the Czech Republic and Olomouc Region;
• to contribute to education.

In order to further these aims, all participating countries agree that:

• The team of any participating country may be required to debate any issue.
• The team of any participating country may be required to debate against the team of any other participating country.
• The team of any participating country is entitled to take part in the tournament on the same basis as any other participating country's team.

At Heart of Europe Debating Tournament special awards are presented each year to the best-performing English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teams. These awards are open to teams from nations where English is not an official national language. To be eligible for the EFL award, a team must be predominantly made-up of students who do not come from English-speaking homes and who do not attend schools where English is used as a medium of instruction. The EFL award was instituted in 2010. Prior to that, there was just one award for teams from non-English-speaking countries. Before 2010, the HOE DT rules stipulated that teams who reached the semi-finals or Grand Final of the championship were not eligible to receive the ESL award. When the EFL award was introduced, the rules were changed to allow teams who reach the semi-finals (but not the Grand Final) to be able to receive the ESL or EFL award.

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Award Winners

Year	EFL Award Winners
2019	Slovenia
2015	Denmark - Denmark Red
2014	Romania - SAVA A
2013	Romania - ARGO
2012	Israel - Lod 1
2011	Czech Republic - Red
2010	Czech Republic - Czech 1

So far the following nations have taken part in the Heart of Europe International Debating Tournament since its inception in 2001.

•  Argentina
•  Belarus
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina
•  Bermuda
•  Bulgaria
•  Croatia
•  Canada
•  Chile
•  China
•  Czech Republic
•  Denmark
•  England
•  Estonia
•  Germany
•  Hong Kong
•  Hungary
•  India
•  Israel
•  Japan
•  Latvia
•  Lithuania
•  North Macedonia
•  Moldova
•  Montenegro
•  Nigeria
•  Palestine
•  Peru
•  Qatar
•  Romania
•  Russia
•  Scotland
•  Serbia
•  Singapore
•  Slovakia
•  Slovenia
•  South Africa
•  South Korea
•  Spain
•  Sweden
•  Turkey
•  Thailand
•  Ukraine
•  United Kingdom
•  United States
•  Vietnam

P indicates prepared motion I indicates impromptu motion.

• World Schools Style debate
• Parliamentary debate
• Eurasian Schools Debating Championships
• World Schools Debating Championships

• Heart of Europe Debating Tournament
• Czech Debate Society
• World Schools Debating Championships