From May 13 to 16, the national round of the Geological Olympiad 2025 took place at the Planeta Hlinsko Education Center. The Olympiad is announced annually by Masaryk University in cooperation with the Czech Geological Survey and the Association of Museums and Galleries of the Czech Republic. The national round was also organized by the Planeta Hlinsko Education Center and the company Vodní zdroje Chrudim. The competition was held with financial support from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and was also supported by the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Pardubice Region, the city of Hlinsko, and the company Heidelberg Materials CZ.
The best contestants who had advanced from regional rounds gathered for the national round. Four contestants were nominated from each region, so a total of 56 participants took part in the national round. According to the Olympiad rules, participants were divided into two categories: Category A included primary school pupils, while secondary school students competed in Category B.
The first day was devoted to the arrival of participants, their registration, and ice-breaking activities. The main competition day followed. The competition consisted of two parts: in the morning, there was an individual knowledge and skills test, while in the afternoon, regional teams presented their field research. The individual competition—considered the core of the Olympiad—included a written test and eleven practical stations, where some exhibits from the Planeta Hlinsko Education Center were used. In both the written test and practical tasks, competitors were expected to demonstrate not only encyclopedic knowledge but also comprehension and the ability to apply knowledge in logical reasoning. This year's theme was "Rocks and Water", so tasks included classifying rocks by permeability. Additionally, participants had to identify raw mineral materials in everyday objects, determine tectonic processes accompanied by volcanism, and apply their geographical knowledge.
The second part of the competition took place in the afternoon—regional teams presented their field observations. Their task was to study a rock outcrop in the cut of the Krounka stream near the village of Doly (close to Luže) and interpret the studied profile. In their presentations, teams demonstrated their findings and provided logical explanations. The evaluation committee posed challenging questions to the teams to assess their understanding of the observations they presented.
Meanwhile, teachers accompanying the students participated in a training course for educators, thematically aligned with this year’s Olympiad topic: "Water and Modern Society." The course, designed by experts from the Department of Geological Sciences, is part of Masaryk University's accredited lifelong learning programs.
The next day was dedicated to a field excursion focused on deepening knowledge about groundwater. The excursion, titled "Journey for Water," was prepared by Jan Doucek, director of Vodní zdroje Chrudim and manager of the Železné hory National Geopark. During the excursion, participants visited several geological sites and hydrogeological boreholes, where they learned about groundwater sources, mineralization, and age. There was also a groundwater tasting from different sources, allowing participants to "savor" the differences between various waters.
After the field excursion, the results were ceremonially announced. In the individual competition, the winners in Category A were:
In Category B:
In the team competition, the South Bohemian Region team (Lenka Litvínová, Šárka Litvínová, Julie Řehounková, Tomáš Resler) won by a large margin.
The announcement of winners concluded another edition of the Geological Olympiad—its ninth so far. The excellent expertise of the winners and the relatively high number of participants this year prove that over the past nine years, the Geological Olympiad has earned its place among academic competitions.
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