North American Debating Championship


The North American Debating Championship is the 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 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.
The most recent iteration was held by the University of Waterloo in January 2020. The current North American champions are from Hart House.

Results

Since 1992, the most successful university overall has been the University of Toronto, with six championship victories. It is followed by Yale University, with five victories. After that, Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 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. Three individuals have won the top team award twice: 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.
YearHostTop TeamCollegeTop DebaterCollege-
2020 WaterlooGautier Boyrie & Chris Pang TorontoSamuel Arnesen and Shreyas Kumar Princeton
2019 RutgersWilliam Arnesen & Xavier Sottile YaleSophia Caldera Harvard-
2018 TorontoHarry Elliott & David Slater StanfordChristopher Taylor Yale-
2017 MiddleburyMegan Wilson & Kyle Hietala YaleNathan Raab Princeton-
2016 Queen'sAnirudh Dasarathy & Brian Litchfield PrincetonDenizhan Uykur McGill-
2015 NYUJuliana Vigorito & David Israel HopkinsShomik Ghosh Michigan-
2014 Ottawa & CarletonKaya Ellis & Louis Tsilivis TorontoMichael Barton and Veenu Goswami Yale and Toronto-
2013 SyracuseCoulter King & Josh Zoffer HarvardCoulter King Harvard-
2012 TorontoSimon Cameron & Romeo Maione CarletonKate Falkenstien Yale-
2011 FordhamNate Blevins & Pam Brown YaleKate Falkenstien Yale-
2010 YorkAdam Goldstein & Bill Magnuson MITRichard Lizius Toronto-
2009 AmherstGrant May & Andrew Rohrbach YaleMark Samburg Harvard-
2008 CarletonJon Laxer & Jason Rogers TorontoJosh Bone Yale-
2007 BatesDylan Gadek & Matthew Wansley YaleIan Freeman Carleton-
2006 TorontoBen Eidelson & Matthew Wansley YaleRory Gillis Yale-
2005 CornellJoanna Nairn & Melanie Tharamangalam TorontoRory Gillis Yale-
2004 Queen'sJames Renihan & Gordon Shotwell McGillGreg Allen UBC-
2003 HopkinsPhil Larochelle & Patrick Nichols MITEmily Schleicher NYU-
2002 McGillRory McKeown & Aaron Rousseau TorontoRanjan Agarwal Ottawa-
2001 CornellStorey Clayton & Adam Zirkin BrandeisDavid Silverman Princeton-
2000 Queen'sCasey Halladay & Robert Silver OttawaCasey Halladay Ottawa-
1999 SmithNathan MacDonald & Averill Pessin GuelphJason Goldman Princeton-
1998 McGillNathan MacDonald & Robert Silver WesternCasey Halladay Ottawa-
1997 HopkinsJohn Oleske & Niall O'Murchada PrincetonJohn Oleske Princeton-
1996 TorontoMatt Cohen & Jamie Springer McGillRon Guirguis Guelph-
1995 PennJeremy Mallory & Neal Potishman SwarthmoreMichael D'Abramo Toronto-
1994 DalhousieRandy Cass & Avery Plaw TorontoAvery Plaw Toronto-
1993 BatesJason Brent & Thomas Meehan TorontoMarc Givens Queen's-
1992 McGillMarc Givens & Elicia Maine Queen'sTed Cruz 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 McGill University
2005Jason Rogers McGill University
2004Stuart Savelkoul Dickinson State University
2001Aidan Johnson University of Toronto
2000Jeremy Holiday Middlebury College
1999Mark Bigney McGill University
1998Michael Podgorski Queen's University
1997Jordan Mills University of New Mexico
1996Shuman Ghosemajumder University of Western Ontario
1995Marika Giles Concordia University
1994Jake Irving University of Ottawa
1993Michael McKneely Colgate University
1992Awanish Sinha University of Ottawa