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Jeopardy! College Championship

The Jeopardy! College Championship is a special two-week event featuring full-time undergraduate college students with no prior degrees. The layout was the same as the Teen Tournament and the Tournament of Champions, with winners receiving $100,000 (formerly $50,000 from 2000-2003 and $25,000 prior to then) and a guaranteed spot in the next Tournament of Champions. With the exceptions of seasons 31 and 35 the College Championship was held annually since its inception. It was last held during Season 36 and has a spinoff in primetime National College Championship.

Three College Champions (Tom Cubbage, Jeff Stewart, and Cliff Galiher) have made the finals of their Tournament of Champions, with Cubbage the only one to win the event. He later competed in the 1990's Super Jeopardy tournament, losing his quarterfinal game.

Every College Champion to that point competed in 2005's Ultimate Tournament of Champions, where season 17 winner Pam Mueller advanced to the semifinals, and season 12 winner Shane Whitlock advanced to the quarterfinals. Cubbage, Mueller, Whitlock, season 9 winner Phoebe Juel, and season 18 winner Vinita Kailasanath all competed in 2014's Battle of the Decades tournament as well, with Cubbage and Mueller advancing to the semifinals as wild cards.

Whitlock, 2008 winner Joey Beachum, and November 2010 winner Erin McLean were among the past champions in the fan-favorite online voting to earn one of three slots in the tournament, but only Whitlock won the fan vote for his decade.

2017 winner Lilly Chin was the alternate of the All-Star Games appearing in the audience on Facebook Live.

Mueller and 2012 winner Monica Thieu both competed as team members in 2019's Jeopardy All-Star Games; Mueller was drafted to team Colby Burnett while Thieu was drafted to team Ken Jennings. Both teams advanced to the finals with Thieu's team finishing second and Mueller's team finishing third.

2001 winner Vinita Kailasanath and 2005 winner Nico Martinez were both in Stanford University when they participated this tournament.

1999 winner Carolyn Cracraft died of end-stage liver disease on June 6, 2019, at the age of 41.

Season Airdate Finale Winner College
5 May 8, 1989 May 19, 1989 Tom Cubbage Southern Methodist University
6 May 7, 1990 May 18, 1990 Michael Thayer Rutgers University
7 May 6, 1991 May 17, 1991 Scott Gillispie Georgia Institute Of Technology
8 May 4, 1992 May 15, 1992 Billy Baxter The College of William & Mary
9 May 3, 1993 May 14, 1993 Phoebe Juel Grinnell College
10 May 2, 1994 May 13, 1994 Jeff Stewart Brigham Young University
11 May 1, 1995 May 12, 1995 Ben Lyon The University of Oklahoma
12 February 12, 1996 February 23, 1996 Shane Whitlock The University of Arkansas
13 May 12, 1997 May 23, 1997 Craig Barker The University of Michigan
14 May 4, 1998 May 15, 1998 Andrew Hutchings Harvey Mudd College
15 May 3, 1999 May 14, 1999 Carolyn Cracraft The University of Chicago
16 February 7, 2000 February 18, 2000 Janet Wong Drew University
17 November 8, 2000 November 21, 2000 Pam Mueller Loyola University Chicago
18 November 7, 2001 November 20, 2001 Vinita Kailasanath Stanford University
19 November 11, 2002 November 22, 2002 Kyle Hale Texas A&M University
20 November 10, 2003 November 21, 2003 Keith Williams Middlebury College
21 November 10, 2004 November 23, 2004 Kermin Fleming Carnegie Mellon University
22 November 7, 2005 November 18, 2005 Nico Martinez Stanford University
23 April 30, 2007 May 11, 2007 Cliff Galiher The University of California, Los Angeles
24 May 5, 2008 May 16, 2008 Joey Beachum Mississippi State University
25 May 4, 2009 May 15, 2009 Patrick Tucker The University of Notre Dame
26 February 1, 2010 February 12, 2010 Nick Yozamp Washington University in St. Louis
27 November 8, 2010 November 19, 2010 Erin McLean Boston University
28 February 1, 2012 February 14, 2012 Monica Thieu The University of North Texas
29 May 6, 2013 May 17, 2013 Jim Coury Georgetown University
30 February 10, 2014 February 21, 2014 Terry O'Shea Princeton University
32 February 1, 2016 February 12, 2016 Sam Deutsch The University of Southern California
33 February 13, 2017 February 24, 2017 Lilly Chin Massachusetts Institute of Technology
34 April 9, 2018 April 20, 2018 Dhruv Gaur Brown University
36 April 6, 2020 April 17, 2020 Nibir Sarma The University of Minnesota

Trivia[]

  • For the season 16 College Championship, the "Think!" music from Rock & Roll Jeopardy! is removed, so the "Think!" Trumpet music was used during the Final Jeopardy! segment, and the tournament was taped at Stage 10 instead of on the road.
    • This was the first instance of the Rock & Roll Jeopardy! music being used on the main show.
    • From season 20 until season 35, the use of the R&RJ music package for the College Championship became a regular practice. Initially, the music was only heard going into and out of commercial breaks. Beginning in Season 23, this was used during the introductions with the Road Show Opening Theme.
  • From season 14 (with the exception of Season 16) until season 24, the tournament was taped on road.
  • For game 1 of the season 18 College Championship, the theme song and "Think!" music was performed by the UCLA Bruins Marching Band.
  • For the season 20 College Championship, the "Think!" Music was performed by the Yale Whiffenpoofs.
  • For the season 36 College Championship, the music package from Sports Jeopardy! was used, including the Final Jeopardy! "Think!" music.
  • Among other tournaments, many of the participants who achieved the best results in the ToC are tournaments. So far, 3 people have made it to the finals, and they have even produced 1st (Tom Cubbage - 1989), 2nd (Jeff Stewart - 1994), and 3rd (Cliff Galiher - 2007) places.
  • There was no College Championship in seasons 31, 35, and 37 (the latter due to travel restrictions in effect during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as an ongoing rotation of guest hosts following the death of Alex Trebek).
    • Starting in season 38 when the tournament resumed, it was rebranded as the Jeopardy! National College Championship; the format also changed, and it now airs in primetime on ABC instead of the daily syndicated series.

Gallery[]

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