North American Debating Championship

Last updated

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.

Contents

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

Results

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.

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

North American Public Speaking Championship

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.

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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York University</span> Public university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

York University, also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, and over 370,000 alumni worldwide. It has 11 faculties, including the Lassonde School of Engineering, Schulich School of Business, Osgoode Hall Law School, Glendon College, and 28 research centres.

The Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate is the national organization which governs all English language competitive university debating and public speaking in Canada. It sanctions several official annual tournaments and represents Canadian debating domestically and abroad. Its membership consists of student debating unions, sanctioned by their respective universities, from across Canada. CUSID has been described as "a student-run, parliamentary debate league with close ties to the American Parliamentary Debate Association".

The American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) is the oldest intercollegiate parliamentary debating association in the United States. APDA sponsors over 50 tournaments a year, all in a parliamentary format, as well as a national championship in late April. It also administers the North American Debating Championship with the Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate (CUSID) every year in January. Although it is mainly funded by its member universities, APDA is an entirely student-run organization.

The Brown Debating Union (BDU) is a student-run debating organization at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. The team competes in American Parliamentary Debate and British Parliamentary Debate. Currently the team is ranked 2nd in North America.

Parliamentary style debate, colloquially oftentimes just Parliamentary debate, is a formal framework for debate used in debating societies, academic debate events and competitive debate. It has its roots in parliamentary procedure and develops differently in different countries as a result.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports in Canada</span> Overview of sports within Canada

Sports in Canada consist of a wide variety of games. The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s, culminating in the development and popularization of the major professional games of ice hockey, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, soccer, football and cricket. Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Golf, baseball, tennis, skiing, ringette, badminton, cricket, volleyball, cycling, swimming, bowling, rugby union, canoeing, curling, squash, and the study of martial arts are widely enjoyed at the youth and amateur levels. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists. There are numerous other Sports Halls of Fame in Canada.


Extemporaneous Speaking is a speech delivery style/speaking style, and a term that identifies a specific forensic competition. The competition is a speech event based on research and original analysis, done with a limited-preparation; in the United States those competitions are held for high school and college students. In a Extemporaneous Speech competition, enrolled participants prepare for thirty minutes on a question related to current events and then give a seven-minute speech responding to that question. The extemporaneous speaking delivery style, referred to as "off-the-cuff", is a type of delivery method for a public presentation, that was carefully prepared and practiced but not memorized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violet Archer</span> Canadian composer, pianist, organist, and percussionist (1913 - 2000)

Violet Louise Archer was a Canadian composer, teacher, pianist, organist, and percussionist. Born Violet Balestreri in Montreal, Quebec, in 1913, her family changed their name to Archer in 1940. She died in Ottawa on 21 February 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports in Montreal</span>

Sports in Montreal have played a major role in the city's history. Montreal is best known for being home to the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League, which are currently the city's only team in the Big Four sports leagues.

The Boston University Debate Society is a member of the American Parliamentary Debate Association. The current incarnation of the Boston University Debate Society was formed in 1999, and competes in parliamentary debate. Previously, Boston University teams competed in other varieties of collegiate debate. For instance, in 1975 a team from Boston University came in third at the National Debate Tournament, a policy debate competition..

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County funds a number of notable student-run organizations and clubs on campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wertheim</span>

John V. Wertheim is an American lawyer and politician who served as Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico from 2004 until 2007. During that time, he also served on the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee. In 1996, he was the Democratic nominee for the United States House of Representatives in New Mexico's 1st congressional district against the incumbent Representative Steve Schiff of the Republican Party. The treasurer for his congressional campaign was Arvind A. Raichur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship</span>

The Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship is the foremost intercollegiate team chess championship in the Americas. Hosted in part by the United States Chess Federation, the Pan-Am Intercollegiate is open to any team comprising four players and up to two alternates from the same post-secondary school in North America, Central America, South America, or the Caribbean. The Pan-Am began as such in 1946, and is held annually, usually December 27–30. It has usually been held in the United States, but was hosted in Canada four times. The current format is a six-round fixed-roster team Swiss-system tournament scored by team points. Sometimes the Pan Am Intercollegiate is held as part of a larger event called the Pan American Chess Championship comprising the Pan-Am Intercollegiate, Pan-Am Scholastic Team Championship, and Pan-Am Open.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian women's ice hockey history</span>

The first instances of organized women's ice hockey in Canada date back to the 1890s when it was played at the university level. The Women's Hockey Association claims that the city of Ottawa, Ontario hosted the first game in 1891. In 1920, Lady Meredith, an avid sportswoman and wife of Sir Vincent Meredith of Montreal donated the Lady Meredith Cup to the Quebec Ladies' Hockey Association, said to be the first women's ice hockey trophy created for a competition in Canada. At the time women competed in ankle-length skirts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yale Debate Association</span>

The Yale Debate Association (YDA) is Yale University's only competitive intercollegiate debate team. Founded in 1908, it is the most prolific winner of the American Parliamentary Debate Association's Club of the Year award. The YDA was also the first American team to win and have the top speaker at the modern World Championships. Currently, the YDA is the fourth-ranked collegiate debate society in the world, and as of January 2024, the highest ranked in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutgers University Debate Union</span>

The Rutgers University Debate Union (RUDU) is Rutgers University's intercollegiate debate team. Re-founded in 2001, the Union's roots extend back to the 18th century literary societies that existed at Rutgers (then Queen's College). There have also been the tradition of King's-Queen's Debates with Columbia University (then King's College) when Rutgers was known under its founding name of Queen's College.

The Harvard College Debating Union is Harvard University's only internationally competitive debate team. The union has won the most American Parliamentary Debate Association National Championships and the 2014, 2016 and 2018 World Universities Debating Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen's Debating Union</span>

The Queen's Debating Union is the debating society of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It was founded as Canada's first debating society in 1843 and became one of the four founding organisations of Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate. It continues to be an active club on campus and has a strong presence both domestically and internationally as a competitive parliamentary debating club.

Sali A. Tagliamonte is a Canadian linguist. Her main area of research is the field of language variation and change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asociación Mexicana de Debate</span>

The Asociación Mexicana de Debate (AMD) is the regulating body for debate in México, formed by students, former students and debate coaches with experience at the most important debating competitions in the world, such as the World Universities Debating Championship, the World Universities Debating Championship in Spanish and the World Schools Debating Championship, and it is the only body that organizes British Parliamentary, Karl Popper and World Schools debate competitions in the country, including two national championships. AMD has the objective of spreading debate all around the country.

References

  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. 1 2 3 "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.