North American Debating Championship

The North American Debating Championship is one of the two official university debate championships of North America. It is sanctioned by the national university debating associations in the United States and Canada, the American Parliamentary Debate Association and the Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate. It has been held each winter on an alternating basis between the United States and Canada since 1992. The host university arranges all judging and is not allowed in the competition. The most frequent hosts have been the University of Toronto and McGill University, which have each hosted the championship three times. Bates College, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, and Queen's University have each hosted twice. This tournament, often abbreviated as NorthAms, is not to be confused with the North American Universities Debating Championship, abbreviated as NAUDC, which is hosted separately in the fall of each year as a British Parliamentary Style tournament. The two events are coordinated such that each is hosted by a different country, the United States or Canada, in a given year.

The most recent iteration was held by UChicago in January 2024. The current North American champions are from Yale University.

Results

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Since 1992, the most successful university overall has been Yale University with nine championship victories, including three of the last four. Following it is the University of Toronto with seven wins. After that, Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and McGill University have two championships each, and no other university has won more than once.

No team has ever repeated as the top team at the championship. Five individuals have won the top team award twice. Most recently, Matthew Song won in 2022 and 2024, representing Yale University. Matthew Wansley of Yale University won back-to-back championships from 2005 to 2007. Prior to that, Nathan MacDonald and Robert Silver won first together for the University of Western Ontario in 1997–1998, then MacDonald for the University of Guelph in 1998–1999, and Silver for the University of Ottawa in 1999–2000. Three people have won the top individual debater award twice: Casey Halladay of the University of Ottawa in 1997–1998 and 1999–2000, Rory Gillis of Yale University in two consecutive years from 2004 to 2006, and Kate Falkenstien of Yale in two consecutive years from 2010 to 2012.

Year Host Champion Team College Top Debater College
2024   UChicago Justin Kim & Matthew Song   Yale Ryan Lafferty   Dartmouth College
2023   Western Ye Joo Han & Matt Mauriello   Harvard Matt Mauriello   Harvard University
2022   Brandeis Cameron Chacon & Matthew Song   Yale Devesh Kodnani   University of Chicago
2021   Penn David Edimo & Eva Quinones   Yale Eva Quinones   Yale
2020   Waterloo Gautier Boyrie & Chris Pang   Toronto Samuel Arnesen and Shreyas Kumar   Princeton
2019   Rutgers William Arnesen & Xavier Sottile   Yale Sophia Caldera   Harvard
2018   Toronto Harry Elliott & David Slater   Stanford Christopher Taylor   Yale
2017   Middlebury Megan Wilson & Kyle Hietala   Yale Nathan Raab   Princeton
2016   Queen's Anirudh Dasarathy & Brian Litchfield   Princeton Denizhan Uykur   McGill
2015   NYU Juliana Vigorito & David Israel   Hopkins Shomik Ghosh   Michigan
2014   Ottawa & Carleton Kaya Ellis & Louis Tsilivis   Toronto Michael Barton and Veenu Goswami   Yale and   Toronto
2013   Syracuse Coulter King & Josh Zoffer   Harvard Coulter King   Harvard
2012   Toronto Simon Cameron & Romeo Maione   Carleton Kate Falkenstien   Yale
2011   Fordham Nate Blevins & Pam Brown   Yale[1] Kate Falkenstien   Yale
2010   York Adam Goldstein & Bill Magnuson   MIT[2][3] Richard Lizius   Toronto
2009   Amherst Grant May & Andrew Rohrbach   Yale Mark Samburg   Harvard
2008   Carleton Jon Laxer & Jason Rogers   Toronto Josh Bone   Yale
2007   Bates Dylan Gadek & Matthew Wansley   Yale Ian Freeman   Carleton
2006   Toronto Ben Eidelson & Matthew Wansley   Yale Rory Gillis   Yale
2005   Cornell Joanna Nairn & Melanie Tharamangalam   Toronto[4] Rory Gillis   Yale
2004   Queen's James Renihan & Gordon Shotwell   McGill Greg Allen   UBC
2003   Hopkins Phil Larochelle & Patrick Nichols   MIT[5] Emily Schleicher   NYU
2002   McGill Rory McKeown & Aaron Rousseau   Toronto[6] Ranjan Agarwal[7][8]   Ottawa
2001   Cornell Storey Clayton & Adam Zirkin   Brandeis David Silverman   Princeton
2000   Queen's Casey Halladay & Robert Silver   Ottawa Casey Halladay[8]   Ottawa
1999   Smith Nathan MacDonald & Averill Pessin   Guelph Jason Goldman   Princeton
1998   McGill Nathan MacDonald & Robert Silver   Western Casey Halladay[8]   Ottawa
1997   Hopkins John Oleske & Niall O'Murchada   Princeton John Oleske   Princeton
1996   Toronto Matt Cohen & Jamie Springer   McGill Ron Guirguis   Guelph
1995   Penn Jeremy Mallory & Neal Potishman   Swarthmore Michael D'Abramo   Toronto
1994   Dalhousie Randy Cass & Avery Plaw   Toronto Avery Plaw   Toronto
1993   Bates Jason Brent & Thomas Meehan   Toronto Marc Givens   Queen's
1992   McGill Marc Givens & Elicia Maine   Queen's Ted Cruz   Princeton

North American Public Speaking Championship

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Every year from 1992 to 2001, and biannually from 2003 to 2007, individual public speaking was also an event at the championship. It was run as a parallel tournament, with a grand public speaking final before the final round of debate. After 2007, it was discontinued as APDA had shortened debating tournaments and discontinued public speaking as a regular event at US tournaments. No individual ever repeated as North American Public Speaking Champion. McGill University and the University of Ottawa each had three public speaking champions, the most of any university.

Year Winner College
2007 Vinay Kumar Mysore   McGill University
2005 Jason Rogers   McGill University
2004 Stuart Savelkoul[9][10]   Dickinson State University
2001 Aidan Johnson   University of Toronto
2000 Jeremy Holiday   Middlebury College
1999 Mark Bigney   McGill University
1998 Michael Podgorski   Queen's University
1997 Jordan Mills   University of New Mexico
1996 Shuman Ghosemajumder   University of Western Ontario
1995 Marika Giles   Concordia University
1994 Jake Irving   University of Ottawa
1993 Michael McKneely   Colgate University
1992 Awanish Sinha   University of Ottawa

References

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  1. ^ "APDAWeb - Results - Fordham NorthAms (2010-2011)". apdaweb.org. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  2. ^ "News + Video | MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering". meche.mit.edu. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  3. ^ "www.yorku.ca/mediar/archive/Release.php?Release=1811". yorku.ca. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  4. ^ "A Way With Words | World University Debating Championship 2006, U of T Award Winners 2006 | Summer 2016 | University of Toronto Magazine". magazine.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  5. ^ "2003 CUSID-APDA North American Debating Championships Final Round on Vimeo". vimeo.com. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  6. ^ "Not Just Black and White | U of T at North American Debating Championships, Aaron Rousseau, Rory McKeown | Summer 2016 | University of Toronto Magazine". magazine.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  7. ^ "Fulcrum 091108". scribd.com. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  8. ^ a b c "Home | Faculty of Law - Common Law Section | University of Ottawa". commonlaw.uottawa.ca. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  9. ^ http://www.dickinsonstate.edu/uploadedFiles/News/Signal_Butte/2009FallSignalButte.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  10. ^ "40 Under 40 - Stuart Savelkoul | North Dakota Business Watch". Archived from the original on 2009-11-30. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
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