Debater Awards
David P. Baker Cup for Season-Long Excellence in Policy Debate
The team with the highest point total using the qualification system that attends the NDCA Championships will be awarded The David P. Baker Cup for Season-Long Excellence. To be considered for this award a team must have debated together at all five tournaments used for qualification.
David Baker spent 16 years teaching public speaking at the St. Mark's School of Texas and serving as coach of the St. Mark’s Debate Team.
Under his direction, the St. Mark's Debate Program was named one of the ten most successful programs of the 20th century and his debate team won the high school National Championship in 1990.
Mr. Baker was elected to the National Speech and Debate Association’s Hall of Fame in 2003, and to the Texas Forensic Association Hall of Fame in 2006.
Previous Winners of the Baker Cup
2006 — Zach Beauchamp & James Brockaway, Georgetown Day School
2007 — Stephen Weil & Anshu Sathian, The Westminster Schools
2008 — Evan DeFilippis & James Hamraie, Colleyville Heritage High School
2009 — Anshi Sathian & Rajesh Jegadeesh, The Westminster Schools
2010 — Will Thibeau & Richard Day, Glenbrook South
2011 — Daniel Taylor & Ellis Allen, The Westminster Schools
2012 — Lyall Stuart & Azhar Unvala, The Greenhill School
2013 — Andrew Jones & Hemanth Sanjeev, Stratford Academy
2014 — Dylan Ogle & Hemanth Sanjeev, Stratford Academy
2015 — Alden Conner & Calen Martin, Caddo Magnet High School
2016 — Zahir Shaikh & Allen Wang, Blake School
2017 — Ben Rosenthal & Andrew Kaplan, Montgomery Bell Academy
2018 — Nicholas Mancini & Giorgio Rabbini, North Broward Preparatory School
2019 — Aden Barton & Julian Habermann, Montgomery Bell Academy
2020 — Aden Barton & Sam Meacham, Montgomery Bell Academy
2021 — Akash Deo and Sebastian Rabbini, North Broward Preparatory School
2022 — David McDermott & Cole Weese, Walter Payton College Preparatory High School
2023 — Sam Church & Alexandra Huang, Liberal Arts and Science Academy
Marilee Dukes & Patricia Bailey Cup for Season-Long Excellence in Lincoln-Douglas Debate
The Dukes & Bailey Cup is given annually to the Lincoln Douglas debater attending the NDCA National Tournament who has accumulated the highest qualifying point total in his or her top five tournament placements during the year. NDCA qualifying points are calculated based on the elim & prelim records of the debaters, weighted according to the size and geographical diversity of the tournament's field. Any tournament can count towards qualifying points. The Dukes & Bailey Cup in LD Debate is named for two of the foremost coaches in LD history, who are together most responsible for forging LD debate into a distinct, national-level competitive event.
Marilee Dukes of Vestavia Hills High School is recognized by many as the most successful Lincoln-Douglas Debate coach in the history of the event. She was the first person to coach two National Champions in Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the same school. Dukes coached champions of the Glenbrooks, the New York City Invitational (Bronx Science), and the MBA, Bronx, and Glenbrook Round Robins; her debaters won St. Mark's two times, the Barkley Forum (Emory) three times, and Wake Forest five times. She also coached twelve champions of the Homewood Patriot Classic. She coached debaters to finals at the Tournament of Champions a still-unmatched six times; Vestavia twice took home the championship twice and the top speaker award three times.
Dukes and her colleague, Patricia Bailey of Homewood High School, were instrumental in "formalizing" Lincoln-Douglas Debate into an event of clashing, flow-based position and arguments rather than, as some had lampooned it, an event of "dueling oratories." Like Dukes, Bailey was also a tremendously successful coach of national caliber. She coached one of the earliest NFL National Champions and had a semifinalist at the TOC during the tournament's first year hosting Lincoln-Douglas Debate. She coached champions of Bronx Science and Emory and a top speaker at St. Mark's. At home, Bailey also coached seven state champions.
Previous Winners of the Dukes & Bailey Cup
2009 — Jordan Lamothe, The Meadows School (Nevada)
2010 — Jordan Lamothe, The Meadows School (Nevada)
2011 — Steven Adler, Mercer Island High School (Washington)
2012 — Noah Star, Lexington High School (Massachusetts)
2013 — Rebecca Kuang, The Greenhill School (Texas)
2014 — Ram Prasad, La Jolla High School (California)
2015 — Arjun Tambe, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (California)
2016 — Bennett Eckert, The Greenhill School (Texas)
2017 — Evan Engel, Harvard-Westlake (California)
2018 — Brianna Aaron, Newark Science (New Jersey)
2019 — Anna Meyers, The Greenhill School (Texas)
2020 — Tajaih Robinson, Success Academy
2021 — Samantha McLoughlin, Harvard-Westlake School
2022 — Zion Dixon, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory
2023 — Karan Shah, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory
Timothy C. Averill Cup Awarding Season-Long Excellence in Public Forum Debate
Among the Speech and Debate community, Tim Averill is widely credited with getting Public Forum Debate off the ground, starting way back in 2003. Tim was instrumental in writing monthly PF topics and introducing the new event to schools nationwide, along with serving as PF tab director at NSDA Nationals for a number of years.
In the words of J. Scott Wunn, current Executive Director of the National Speech and Debate Association: “If it weren't for the efforts of Tim Averill, Public Forum would not have grown and flourished into the cornerstone event it is today. Both the NSDA and the entire PF community owe him a large debt of gratitude."
Just as the NDCA's other season-long excellence awards honor David P. Baker's leadership in promoting Policy Debate, and Marilee Dukes and Patricia Bailey's key role in developing Lincoln-Douglas—We are proud to announce the Timothy C. Averill Cup for Season-Long Excellence in Public Forum Debate, named in recognition of Tim's invaluable contributions during PF's crucial formative years.
Previous Winners of the Averill Cup
2019 — Daniel Fernandez & Noah Kaye, Poly Prep Country Day
2020 — Jack Johnson & Morgan Swigert, Blake School
2021 — Eli Glickman & Roy Tiefer, Bethesda Chevy Chase High School
2022 — Anisha Musti & Abhiram Masam, Edgemont Junior-Senior High School
2023 — Sienna Vaughn & Daniel Zhao, Flintridge Preparatory