Heart of Europe 2013

To the friends of debate everywhere,

We, the Czech Debate Society, wish to invite you to the 10th year of our traditional international high school debate tournament, the Heart of Europe 2013. The competition takes place in Olomouc, Czech Republic from 1st - 6th August 2013, and is open for secondary and high school students from anywhere in the world. Usually, there are teams from four or five different continents participating, from countries as diverse as Canada, Chile, Nigeria, South Africa, Singapore, or Romania (among many others).

Heart of Europe features 8 preliminary power-paired rounds (half of the debates are impromptu), octo, quarter, semi-finals (all impromptu) and the Grand Final (prepared). The team cap has been set to 60 this year and we use the World Style Debating Format, so it is really good opportunity to practice for World Schools Debating Championship 2014, Thailand. Participants should be familiar with English at least to such an extent that they will be able to deliver a speech - other than that, proficiency in English does not matter when it comes to registration. Teams of all levels of experience are welcome, since the Heart of Europe is designed as a learning opportunity and competitive challenge in equal measure.

Just like last year, our goal is to achieve panels of 3 adjudicators available for every preliminary debate, therefore we will be applying the n+1 rule again („n“ being the number of teams in a given delegation). Delegation bringing one team has to bring two judges, a delegation bringing two teams has to bring three judges, and so forth. We believe that panels provide greater fairness and also within them, more experienced judges can be combined with the less experienced, thus allowing the less experienced judges to learn.

The registration fees for Heart of Europe 2013 are 200 EUR per a debater, 140 EUR per a judge and 260 EUR per an observer. It is possible that we will require a deposit to a bank account in advance, but it is more likely that we would have you pay the fees upon your arrival, as usual. All participants will be accommodated in the best university dormitories in Olomouc and provided with meals and tickets for public transportation throughout the city during the course of the tournament. This year, all the important facilities will be very close to each other, so the time spent on transportation is going to be significantly reduced. Consequently, there will be much more free time and/or time for special pre-planned social and recreational events.

If you like what you have read so far, feel free to read the enclosed Call for Registration for more details. For those of you who prefer watching videos, you can check Video Call for Registration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E51wtRIrULo. We hope that we will be able to welcome you to the Heart of Europe 2013 debating tournament. 

You can also check out our facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heart-of-Europe-Debating-Tournament-Official-Site/175134202532094

Or our website:

http://www.heart-of-europe.org/web/


Registration has been opened http://www.heart-of-europe.org/web/online_registration. Feel free to ask any questions. We‘re looking forward to seeing you in the Czech Republic this summer!

Jakub Kadlec
HOEDT '13 Registration Team
Organising Committee
Heart of Europe Debating Tournament
Czech Debate Society
Address: Tomkova 314/45, Olomouc, 779 00, Czech Republic, EU
registrations@heart-of-europe.org
www.c-d-s.cz | www.heart-of-europe.org

Facebook: Heart-of-Europe-Debating-Tournament-Official-Site

Twitter: @HeartofEuropeDT

Vkontakte: heart_of_europe_dt

You Tube: TheCZDebateTV

Ustream: HeartofEuropeTV

Flicker: debateolomouc

Wikipedia: Heart_of_Europe_Debating_Tournament

Best regards,

Jakub Kadlec
Head of Executive Board of CDS
Czech Debate Society, o. s.
Address: Tomkova 314/45, Olomouc, 779 00, Czech Republic, EU

GSM: 00420 736 263 921
http://www.c-d-s.cz/ | jakub.kadlec@c-d-s.cz