The National Debate Tournament is an American inter-college debate competition, held annually since 1947. The Rex Copeland award, inaugurated in 1989 for the team with the best performance over the whole season, is presented on the same occasion.
Wake Forest University maintains a list of champions, runners-up, and semi-finalists. [1]
| Year | National Champions | School |
|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Scott Nobles & Gerald Sanders | Southeastern State College |
| 1948 | Keith Parks & David Cotton | North Texas State College (University of North Texas) |
| 1949 | Oscar Newton & Mitchell Latoff | University of Alabama |
| 1950 | Richard O'Connell & Thomas Hayes | University of Vermont |
| 1951 | James Q. Wilson & Holt Spicer | University of Redlands |
| 1952 | James Q. Wilson & Holt Spicer | University of Redlands |
| 1953 | Gerald Kogan & Lawrence Perlmutter | University of Miami |
| 1954 | William Amold & Hubert Bell | University of Kansas |
| 1955 | Dennis Holt & Elis Storey | University of Alabama |
| 1956 | George Walker & James Murphy | United States Military Academy |
| 1957 | Norman Lefstein & Phillip Hubbart | Augustana College |
| 1958 | William Welsh & Richard Kirshberg | Northwestern University |
| 1959 | William Welsh & Richard Kirshberg | Northwestern University |
| 1960 | Anthony Roisman & Saul Baernstein | Dartmouth College |
| 1961 | Laurence Tribe & Gene Clements | Harvard University |
| 1962 | Dale Williams & Sarah Benson | Ohio State University |
| 1963 | Fank Wohl & Stephen Kessler | Dartmouth College |
| 1964 | Raoul Kennedy & Douglas Pipes | University of the Pacific |
| 1965 | John Wittig & Barnett Pearce | Carson-Newman College |
| 1966 | Bill Snyder & Mike Denger | Northwestern University |
| 1967 | Tom Brewer & John Isaacson | Dartmouth College |
| 1968 | Robert Shields & Lee Thompson | Wichita State University |
| 1969 | Richard Lewis & Joel Perwin | Harvard University |
| 1970 | Robert McCulloh & David Jeans | University of Kansas |
| 1971 | Don Hornstein & Barrett McInerney | University of California, Los Angeles |
| 1972 | Mike Clough & Mike Fernandez | University of California, Santa Barbara |
| 1973 | Elliot Mincberg & Ron Marmer | Northwestern University |
| 1974 | Charles Garvin & Greg Rosenbaum | Harvard University |
| 1975 | Jay Hurst & David Kent | Baylor University |
| 1976 | Robin Rowland & Frank Cross | University of Kansas |
| 1977 | John Walker & David Ottoson | Georgetown University |
| 1978 | Mark Cotham & Stuart H. Singer | Northwestern University |
| 1979 | Michael King & John Bredehoft | Harvard University |
| 1980 | Don Dripps & Tom Fulkerson | Northwestern University |
| 1981 | Michael Alberty & Stephen Marzen | University of Pittsburgh |
| 1982 | Dave Sutherland & Dan Sutherland | University of Louisville |
| 1983 | Mark Gidley & Rodger Payne | University of Kansas |
| 1984 | Leonard Gail & Mark Koulogeorge | Dartmouth College |
| 1985 | Jonathan Massey & Ed Swaine | Harvard University |
| 1986 | David Brownell & Ouita Papka | University of Kentucky |
| 1987 | Griffin Vincent & Lyn Robbins | Baylor University |
| 1988 | Shaun Martin & Robert D. Wick | Dartmouth College |
| 1989 | Martin Loeber & Daniel Plants | Baylor University |
| 1990 | David Coale & Alex Lennon | Harvard University |
| 1991 | Roger Cole and Marc Rubinstein | University of Redlands |
| 1992 | Ahilan Arulanantham & Kevin Kuswa | Georgetown University |
| 1993 | Ara Lovitt & Steven Sklaver | Dartmouth College |
| 1994 | Sean McCaffity & Jody Terry | Northwestern University |
| 1995 | Sean McCaffity & Jody Terry | Northwestern University |
| 1996 | Kate Shuster & David Heidt | Emory University |
| 1997 | Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Brian Prestes | Wake Forest University |
| 1998 | Michael Gottlieb & Ryan Sparacino | Northwestern University |
| 1999 | Michael Gottlieb & Ryan Sparacino | Northwestern University |
| 2000 | Michael Horowitz & Jon Paul Lupo | Emory University |
| 2001 | Andy Peterson & Andy Ryan | University of Iowa |
| 2002 | Jake Foster & Jonathan Paul | Northwestern University |
| 2003 | Geoff Garen & Tristan Morales | Northwestern University |
| 2004 | Greta Stahl & Dave Strauss | Michigan State University |
| 2005 | Tristan Morales & Josh Branson | Northwestern University |
| 2006 | Ryan Burke & Casey Harrigan | Michigan State University |
| 2007 | Aimi Hamraie & Julie Hoehn | Emory University |
| 2008 | Seth Gannon & Alex Lamballe | Wake Forest University |
| 2009 | Brett Bricker & Nate Johnson | University of Kansas |
| 2010 | Carly Wunderlich & Eric Lanning | Michigan State University |
| 2011 | Matt Fisher & Stephanie Spies | Northwestern University |
| 2012 | Andrew Arsht & Andrew Markoff | Georgetown University |
| 2013 | Elijah Smith & Ryan Wash | Emporia State University |
| 2014 | Andrew Arsht & Andrew Markoff | Georgetown University |
| 2015 | Alex Miles & Arjun Vellayappan | Northwestern University |
| 2016 | David Herman & Hemanth Sanjeev | Harvard University |
| 2017 | Devane Murphy & Nicole Nave | Rutgers University-Newark |
| 2018 | Quaram Robinson & Will Katz | |
| 2019 | Dan Bannister & Anthony Trufanov | University of Kentucky |
| 2020 | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic | N/A |
| 2021 | Raam Tambe & Tyler Vergho | Dartmouth College |
| 2022 | Arvind Shankar & Tyler Vergho | Dartmouth College |
| 2023 | Tajaih Robinson & Iyana Trotman | Wake Forest University |
| 2024 | Kelly Phil & Bennett Dombcik | University of Michigan |
| 2025 | Eli T. Louis & Jeremiah Cohn | Binghamton University |
The Rex Copeland award, presented on the eve of the NDT, goes to the team with the best season-long performance, ranked #1 among the 16 teams with automatic bids to the tournament. [2] Rex Copeland, a debater at Samford University, was murdered by his debate coach, William Slagle, in 1989. [3]
Wake Forest University maintains a list of the top 5 finishers for the Copeland Award. [4]
| Academic Year | Copeland Award Winner | School |
|---|---|---|
| TOP FIRST ROUND TEAMS - (Prior to establishing the Copeland Award) | ||
| 1972–1973 | Stewart Jay & Bradley Ziff | Georgetown University |
| 1973–1974 | Charles Garvin & Greg Rosenbaum | Harvard University |
| 1974–1975 | Thomas Rollins & Bradley Ziff | Georgetown University |
| 1975–1976 | Robert Feldhake & Richard Godfrey | Augustana College |
| 1976–1977 | David Ottoson & John Walker | Georgetown University |
| 1977–1978 | David Ottoson & Tom Rollins | Georgetown University |
| 1978–1979 | Chris Wonnell & Susan Winkler | Northwestern University |
| 1979–1980 | James Kirkland & John Thompson | Georgetown University |
| 1980–1981 | Cy Smith & Mark Weinhardt | Dartmouth College |
| 1981–1982 | Mark Gidley & Zac Grant | University of Kansas |
| 1982–1983 | Melanie Gardner & Erik Walker | Samford University |
| 1983–1984 | Leonard Gail & Mark Koulogeorge | Dartmouth College |
| 1984–1985 | David Bloom & Greg Mastel | Claremont McKenna College |
| 1985–1986 | Dan Povinelli & Mark Friedman | University of Massachusetts Amherst |
| 1986–1987 | Griffin Vincent & Lyn Robbins | Baylor University |
| 1987–1988 | Ben Attias & Gordon Mitchell | Northwestern University |
| 1988–1989 | Martin Loeber & Daniel Plants | Baylor University |
| Copeland Award Winner | ||
| 1989–1990 | David Coale & Alex Lennon | Harvard University |
| 1990–1991 | Roger Cole and Marc Rubinstein | University of Redlands |
| 1991–1992 | Kenny Agran & Ara Lovitt | Dartmouth College |
| 1992–1993 | Ara Lovitt & Steven Sklaver | Dartmouth College |
| 1993–1994 | Paul Skiermont & Jason Patil | University of Kentucky |
| 1994–1995 | John Hughes & Adrienne Brovero | Wake Forest University |
| 1995–1996 | Sean McCaffity and Mason Miller | Northwestern University |
| 1996–1997 | Scott Hessell and Corey Stoughton | University of Michigan |
| 1997–1998 | George Kouros and Anjan Sahni | Emory University |
| 1998–1999 | Michael Gottlieb & Ryan Sparacino | Northwestern University |
| 1999–2000 | Kristen Langwell & Andy Ryan | University of Iowa |
| 2000–2001 | Randy Luskey & Dan Shalmon | University of California, Berkeley |
| 2001–2002 | Alex Berger & Ben Thorpe | Dartmouth College |
| 2002–2003 | Geoff Garen & Tristan Morales | Northwestern University |
| 2003–2004 | Dan Shalmon & Tejinder Singh | University of California, Berkeley |
| 2004–2005 | Tristan Morales & Josh Branson | Northwestern University |
| 2005–2006 | Michael Klinger & Nikhil Mirchandani | Harvard University |
| 2006–2007 | Brent Culpepper & Kevin Rabinowitz | University of Georgia |
| 2007–2008 | Jacob Polin & Michael Burshteyn | University of California, Berkeley |
| 2008–2009 | Matt Fisher & John Warden | Northwestern University |
| 2009–2010 | Stephen Weil & Ovais Inamullah | Emory University |
| 2010–2011 | Stephen Weil & Ovais Inamullah | Emory University |
| 2011–2012 | Ryan Beiermeister & Layne Kirshon | Northwestern University |
| 2012–2013 | Andrew Arsht & Andrew Markoff | Georgetown University |
| 2013–2014 | Alex Miles & Arjun Vellayappan | Northwestern University |
| 2014–2015 | Alex Miles & Arjun Vellayappan | Northwestern University |
| 2015–2016 | David Herman & Hemanth Sanjeev | Harvard University |
| 2016–2017 | Ayush Midha & Hemanth Sanjeev | Harvard University |
| 2017–2018 | Will Katz & Quaram Robinson | University of Kansas |
| 2018–2019 | Dan Bannister & Anthony Trufanov | University of Kentucky |
| 2019—2020 | Nathan Fleming & Miles Gray | University of California, Berkeley |
| 2020—2021 | Raam Tambe & Tyler Vergho | Dartmouth College |
| 2021—2022 | Rafael Pierry & Giorgio Rabbini | University of Michigan |
| 2022—2023 | Rafael Pierry & Kelly Phil | University of Michigan |
| 2023—2024 | Grace Kessler & Shreyas Rajagopal | Emory University |