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.
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".
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.
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.
In terms of cultural program, Heart of Europe newly included a talent show, where everyone was invited to showcase any skill other than debating.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 British Parliamentary Track of the Heart of Europe international debating tournament was first introduced in 2013, the 10th anniversary of the event.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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.
THBT all young people should be required to do some form of National Service (not necessarily military) for two full years.
The committee had advisors: Carmen Belafi, Tristan Von Zahn, Eva Nike Cvikl, Itumeleng Kenneth Mohanoe, Frankie Cena,[3] Martin Rezny, Bojana Skrt, Olesia Yakimakha.
THBT the decision to engage in any form of military intervention (including war) should be made by the political executive in a state and not by the citizens 3.
THBT refugees should be granted voting rights in their recipient countries (SF) I PROTESTS (all with info slip) 1.
Impromto sets were created by Motion Committee: Itumeleng Kenneth Mohanoe (ZAR), Frankie Cena (CAN), Dena Tabyanian (CAN), aura Krawczyk (POL), Simona Mazilu (ROM), Delfina Vildósola (ARG), Mgr.