During the autumn and winter 2009/2010 the Historical Association ran a nationwide historical debating competition across schools in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Over 150 schools were involved and over 230 students took part in the 20 heats. Students aged between 16 and 19 debated the question:  

"Why does your local hero matter?"  

Each competitor was given five minutes to present their case and then fields questions from the judges.

The standard of the entrants in all the heats were incredibly high and the choices of local heroes very diverse. Podcasts were taken of the heats in Somerset, Norwich, York, Belfast, Edinburgh and London and are available on the HA website here...

The final took place at Clare College, Cambridge on Sat 13^th March 2010. The winners of the regional heats competed against each other representing their local heroes in the same format as the heats. The judges were Professor Anne Curry, President of the Historical Association, Dr Dave Musgrove, Editor of BBC History Magazine, Dr Robert Baldock, Managing Director of Yale University Press and Andrew Preston is Senior Lecturer in History and a Fellow of Clare College at Cambridge University.

As you will see from the films here all the finalists were truly exceptional and for the judges it was a very hard task to choose a winner. We hope you enjoy their presentationtions!

The film below contains the welcome by the Historical Association CEO, Rebecca Sullivan, and an introduction by Heather Scott, Deputy President of the Historical Association.