Heart of Europe Debating Tournament

History

The Heart of Europe Debating Tournament is a WSDC (World Schools Deabting Championships) based 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.

Heart of Europe DT has become very popular during the past years. There have been participants from countries such as Belarus, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Turkey, South Africa, China, United Kingdom and United States.

Goals

• 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 accordance with these goals, all participating teams agree upon the following:

• Any team is required to be willing to debate any issue;
• Any team of a participating nation will likely be required to debate against the team of another participating nation;
• Any and all teams are entitled to take part in the Heart of Europe Debating Tournament under the same set of regulations and requirements as other teams, possessing the same rights and responsibilities.

Regulations and Guidelines

All debates are conducted in English. A team may consist of 3-5 members who are between 11 and 21 years old each. The participants have to be students of a secondary/high school or recent graduates of a high school, meaning that they graduated from a high school no earlier than 3 months before the start of the tournament. The regulations may be adjusted on individual basis due to, for instance, differences in education systems in the teams' respective countries of origin. Refer to the Rules for more detailed information.

The HOEDT Rules
HOEDT Code of Ethics