All College Championship contestants receive cash prizes, based on their progress through the tournament. Contestants eliminated prior to the finals receive fixed payouts, while contestants in the finals receive guaranteed minimums, but can earn more. Over time, the prizes have increased in value, as shown below:
From 1993-2004, the winner also won a new car (Dodge from 1993–1994, Volvo from 1995–2003, and Volkswagen in 2004), and the company who manufactured the car matched each finalists' totals and set up scholarships in those amounts earned for the finalists' schools.
Winners also receive a small replica trophy of the larger College Championship trophy, which is retained by Jeopardy! in Southern California. On the larger trophy are engraved the names of every year's winner, in the fashion of the Stanley Cup. (A number of former College Champions have reported that the replica trophy is fragile and arrived broken from shipment.)
In addition to the above-mentioned winnings, the winner earns an automatic position in the next Tournament of Champions.
The following is a list of contestants and where they placed in the tournament. Finalists who earned more than the minimum guarantee are as indicated.
| Finalists |
Semifinalists |
Quarterfinalists |
| Alex Trebek Era (1984–present) |
|
| Season 5 (May 8, 1989 – May 19, 1989) |
Winner: Tom Cubbage (Southern Methodist University, $26,600)
1st runner-up: Alex Yang (Tulane University, $24,601)
2nd runner-up: Linda Krisak (Case Western Reserve University) |
Kyle Bostian (University of Massachusetts)
Jason Moore (University of Southern California)
David Nieporent (Princeton University)
Jason Powderly (Florida State University)
Monroe Roark (University of West Georgia)
Kristine Zaleskas (Harvard University) |
Paula Ashbaugh (Michigan State University)
Ann Danielson (Amherst College)
Betty Hsu (University of California, Los Angeles)
Dave Piatt (Johns Hopkins University)
Anna Simopolous (Cornell University)
Chris Swensen (Towson State University) |
|
| Season 6 (May 7, 1990 – May 18, 1990) |
Winner: Michael Thayer (Rutgers University)
1st runner-up: David Honea (North Carolina State University)
2nd runner-up: Amy Zucker (Wesleyan University) |
Joey Burgoon (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Matthew Miller (University of Michigan)
Katie Polk (College of William & Mary)
Gavin Russell (University of California at Berkeley)
Noah Smith (Northwestern University)
Brad Williams (University of Northern Iowa) |
Elena Broder (Duke University)
Eryn Brown (Harvard University)
Bobbie Diamond (Oberlin College)
Julie Gross (Rice University)
Sue O'Connor (Saint Mary's College (Indiana))
Penny Prior (Georgetown University) |
|
| Season 7 (May 6, 1991 – May 17, 1991) |
Winner: Scott Gillispie (Georgia Institute of Technology, $27,400)
1st runner-up: Andre DuVoisin (University of New Orleans, $10,600)
2nd runner-up: Tim Lakin (Northwestern University) |
Kimberly Bartlett (University of Alabama)
Maureen McIvor (Georgetown University)
Franco Recchia (Wayne State University) |
|
| Season 8 (May 4, 1992 – May 15, 1992) |
Winner: Billy Baxter (College of William & Mary, $26,200)
1st runner-up: Nick Jungman (University of Oklahoma, $16,800)
2nd runner-up: Stephanie Leveene (University of Delaware, $16,800) |
Chris Montplaisir (University of North Carolina)
Ken Kansa (The George Washington University) |
David Ellis (Michigan State University) |
|
| Season 9 (May 3, 1993 – May 14, 1993) |
Winner: Phoebe Juel (Grinnell College, $28,000)
1st runner-up: Eric Biber (Harvard University, $19,100)
2nd runner-up: John van deWeert (Princeton University, $16,800) |
Jeffrey Thompsen (University of California at Berkeley)
Jessica Sison (San Francisco State University)
Nelson Brooks (University of South Carolina)
Ann Menge (Marquette University)
Keena Baumgartner (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Dave Larson (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
|
Sate Falley (Florida Atlantic University)
Nikki Laski (Iowa State University)
Rhonda Rodriguez (Boston University)
Ericka Hayes (Washington University in St. Louis)
Patrick Archdeacon (Columbia University)
Andi Bloom (Illinois State University) |
|
| Season 10 (May 2, 1994 – May 13, 1994) |
Winner: Jeff Stewart (Brigham Young University)
1st runner-up: Dave Goldsmith (Colgate University)
2nd runner-up: Keri Ellis (Michigan Technological University) |
Kristen Brewe (University of Minnesota)
Brooke Gallagher (University of Maryland)
Brian Johnson (University of Florida)
Elizabeth Lizotte (Simpson College)
Martin Poteralski (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Sarah Jane Whitten (University of Texas at Dallas) |
Maggie Bandur (Northwestern University)
Benoy Chacko (University of Michigan)
Mark Rooney (University of Missouri)
Matt Stone (University of Illinois)
John Sweeney (University of Nebraska)
Shawn Wrobel (Stanford University) |
|
| Season 11 (May 1, 1995 – May 12, 1995) |
Winner: Ben Lyon (University of Oklahoma)
1st runner-up: Rebekah Reeves (Texas A&M University)
2nd runner-up: Stephen Smith (University of Notre Dame) |
|
|
|
| Season 12 (February 12, 1996 – February 23, 1996) |
Winner: Shane Whitlock (University of Arkansas, $32,800)
1st runner-up: Vandana Madhavan (Harvard University, $21,000)
2nd runner-up: Bryan Fagan (Southwest Missouri State University, $13,199) |
Bronwyn Bedient (University of North Carolina)
Stephanie Brown (University of West Georgia)
Brian Gondos (University of Pennsylvania)
Bill Lee (University of Washington)
Michael Musgrove (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Mark Schmidt (Baldwin-Wallace College) |
Alison Anderson (Boston University)
Colin Campbell (Princeton University)
Jenn Cunningham (Yale University)
Alex Rucker (The George Washington University)
Rachel Schifter (Colgate University)
Jeff Warren (Abilene Christian College) |
|
| Season 13 (May 12, 1997 – May 23, 1997) |
Winner: Craig Barker (University of Michigan)
1st runner-up: Mark Urciuolo (Marist College)
2nd runner-up: Steven Bevier (Michigan State University) |
Brian Chan (Harvard University)
Bill McKinley (Wittenberg University)
Eric Slack (Purdue University)
Lisa Talley (Loyola University of New Orleans)
Joel Vaughan (Duke University)
Aaron Wenger (University of Louisville) |
Oliver Baptiste (William Paterson College)
Leslie Campisi (Loyola University of New Orleans)
Brigid Laurie (Bryn Mawr College)
Andrea Pinyan (Alfred University)
Andrea Riquier (Boston University)
James Tong (Yale University) |
|
| Season 14 (May 4, 1998 – May 15, 1998), at Zellerbach Hall on the University of California, Berkeley campus |
Winner: Andrew Hutchings (Harvey Mudd College)
1st runner-up: Alex Weathers (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $16,199)
2nd runner-up: Shane Underwood (University of Alabama) |
Adia Benton (Brown University)
Cathy Landers (University of California at Berkeley)
Grace Lansangan (Barton College)
Claire Ogilvie (Yale University)
Kristen Page (Mary Washington College)
Bryan Stofferahn (Santa Clara University) |
Lucas Bergman (University of Illinois at Chicago)
Leslie Cooper (University of South Carolina)
Chanel Lee (University of Virginia)
Katy Sprinkel (DePaul University)
Sub Stockman (University of Pennsylvania)
Mari Webel (Stanford University) |
|
| Season 15 (May 3, 1999 – May 14, 1999), at the Rosemont Theater in Rosemont, Illinois |
Winner: Carolyn Cracraft (University of Chicago)
1st runner-up: Katie King (University of Kentucky)
2nd runner-up: Josh Levy (University of Pennsylvania, $12,295) |
Meg Audette (Wofford College)
Cameron Blakemore (Oklahoma State University)
Stephen James (University of North Texas)
Veronica Lee (University of Oregon)
Jason McClellan (Texas A&M University)
Whitney Owens (Northwestern University) |
Julie Ann Cohen (University of Michigan)
Tara Crabtree (University of Washington)
Aaron Johnson (Rowan University)
Butch Malec (Reed College)
Paul Marchegiani (Northwestern University)
Nicole Thibodeau (University of Illinois) |
|
| Season 16 (February 7, 2000 – February 18, 2000) |
Winner: Janet Wong (Drew University)
1st runner-up: Adam Canter (Georgetown University, $17,299)
2nd runner-up: Greg Hodgin (Emory University) |
Julia Becker (Brandeis University)
Gina Bronsberg (University of Illinois)
Molly Jesse (University of Virginia)
Michael La Masse (Eastern Michigan University)
Kurt Medland (Albion College)
Natalie Tindall (Florida A&M University) |
Darren Bates (University of California at San Diego)
Peter Scott Breeze (Ithaca College)
Anita Brkic (University of California, Los Angeles)
Gweneth Connell (Amherst College)
Milo Dochow (Cooper Union)1
Marcail Moran (Hollins College) |
|
| Season 17 (November 8, 2000 – November 21, 2000), at Meany Hall on the University of Washington campus |
Winner: Pam Mueller (Loyola University Chicago)
1st runner-up: Jonah Knobler (Harvard University)
2nd runner-up: Carl Gilbertsen (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) |
Mitali Banerjee (Rice University)
Matt Keller (Vanderbilt University)
Erin Milligan (University of Delaware)
Suzanne Rivoire (University of Texas at Austin)
Genevieve Romeo (Ursinus College)
Dave Sabath (University of Wisconsin–Madison) |
Jim Giesen (University of Washington)
Iyesatu Kamara (University of Washington)
Jordan Kovnot (Dartmouth College)
Rob Schickler (Baylor University)
Lisa Thimjon (Luther College)
John R. Williams (The George Washington University) |
|
| Season 18 (November 7, 2001 – November 20, 2001), at Pauley Pavilion on the University of California, Los Angeles campus |
Winner: Vinita Kailasanath (Stanford University)
1st runner-up: Matt Schnippert (Florida State University, $19,801)
2nd runner-up: Thomas Zamora (University of Southern California, $14,100) |
Sara Dean (Syracuse University)
Brett Dvorak (Indiana University)
Mysti Kofford (Boston University)
Jayce Newton (University of California, Los Angeles)
Marques Redd (Harvard University)
Brittany Rogers (Saddleback College) |
Erin Bogart (Miami University)
Jamie Green (Brown University)
Susan Haarman (Marquette University)
Tony Nagatani (Ithaca College)
Andrew Nerlinger (University of Notre Dame)
Sam Weaver (Bradley University) |
|
| Season 19 (November 11, 2002 – November 22, 2002), at Jerome Schottenstein Center on the Ohio State University campus |
Winner: Kyle Hale (Texas A&M University, $51,300)
1st runner-up: Mark Kehres (Ohio State University, $49,200)
2nd runner-up: Jara Dorsey (Carnegie Mellon University) |
Arianna Haut (Washington University in St. Louis)
Stacy Lee (Smith College)
Corrie Loeffler (Azusa Pacific University)
Sarah Martin-Anderson (California State University, Bakersfield)
Pat Mobley (University of Michigan)
Katie Orphan (Whitworth College) |
Brian Andrews (DePaul University)
Jenny Hauser (University of Arizona)
Allison Hurley (University of Cincinnati)
Adam Kay (Salt Lake Community College)
Tony Sina (Temple University)
Hikma Abdulghani (Columbia University) |
|
| Season 20 (November 10, 2003 – November 21, 2003), at Payne Whitney Gymnasium on the Yale University campus |
Winner: Keith Williams (Middlebury College)
1st runner-up: Grant Hutchinson (University of West Florida)
2nd runner-up: Joshua Perkins (Rice University) |
Alex Albrecht (Purdue University)
Ellen Auer (St. Olaf College)
Ken Basin (University of Southern California)
Jim Fitzpatrick (Wake Forest University)
Heather Groggel (Concordia University-Wisconsin)
Robby Schrum (Yale University) |
Lauren Henderson (Colby College)
Amanda Johnson (University of Chicago)
Karli Kosman (Mt. San Jacinto College)
Mary Naam (Harvard University)
Lee Tucker (Carleton College)
Joyce Yuan (University of California, Berkeley) |
|
| Season 21 (November 10, 2004 – November 23, 2004), at the Petersen Events Center on the University of Pittsburgh campus |
Winner: Kermin Fleming (Carnegie Mellon University)
1st runner-up: Ari Schoenholtz (Williams College)
2nd runner-up: Rachel McCool (Dickinson College) |
Kelley Burd (West Virginia University)
Lindsey Hargrove (University of Texas)
Amory Jendrek (Davidson College)
Victoria Manos (St. John's University)
Casey Retterer (University of Maryland, College Park)
Lily Wang (Columbia University) |
Matthew Bushell (Georgetown University)
Jeffrey Love (Stanford University)
Christina Maes (University of Wisconsin–Green Bay)
Larry Marshall (University of Missouri)
Amanda Nowotny (University of Pittsburgh)
Brad Selvig (Florida State University) |
|
| Season 22 (November 7, 2005 – November 18, 2005), at the RBC Center, just off the North Carolina State University campus in Raleigh, North Carolina |
Winner: Nico Martinez (Stanford University)
1st runner-up: Adam Pinson (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
2nd runner-up: Jayanth Iyengar (Washington University in St. Louis) |
Beth Cimini (Boston University)
Peter Ellis (North Carolina State University)
Ben Goldman (New York University)
Alison Jenik (University of Maryland, College Park)
Amanda Walker (Gonzaga University)
Antonia Wang (Purdue University) |
Anna Allie (University of Michigan–Dearborn)
Chris Breen (Princeton University)
Colin Brown (University of Rochester)
Malisha Butts (North Carolina Central University)
Christopher Chilton (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Chelsea He (Duke University) |
|
| Season 23 (April 30, 2007 – May 11, 2007), at the Galen Center on the campus of the University of Southern California |
Winner: Cliff Galiher (University of California, Los Angeles)
1st runner-up: Craig Boge (Stanford University)
2nd runner-up: Christine Kennedy (University of Notre Dame) |
Hayley Clatterbuck (University of Nebraska)
Alice Luo (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Dean Malec (Northwestern University)
Will Schultz (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Haritha Sudanagunta (University of California at San Diego)
Pete Troyan (University of Michigan) |
Elise Burton (University of California at Berkeley)
Brady Cassis (Yale University)
Ashley Grand (Harvard University)
Anna Han (Penn State University)
Sarah Nothnagel (University of Southern California)
Kaitlin Welborn (University of Pennsylvania) |
|
| Season 24 (May 5, 2008 - May 16, 2008), at the Kohl Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison |
Winner: Joey Beachum (Mississippi State University)
1st runner-up: Danielle Zsenak (Marquette University)
2nd runner-up: Andrew Chung (Harvey Mudd College) |
Danny Devries (University of Michigan)
Tara Franey (Michigan State University)
James Grant (Georgetown University)
Gabrielle McMahan (Florida A&M University)
Suchita Shah (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
Vera Swain (University of South Carolina) |
Jonathan Hawley (Harvard University)
Than Hedman (University of Colorado-Boulder)
Brandon Hensley (California Institute of Technology)
Meredith Johnson (University of Minnesota)
Dara Lind (Yale University)
Katie Winter (Tufts University) |
|
| Season 25 (May 4, 2009 - May 15, 2009) |
Winner: Patrick Tucker (University of Notre Dame)
1st runner-up: Eric Betts (Emory University)
2nd runner-up: Laura Myers (University of Missouri, $29,900) |
Andrew Ceppos (Tufts University)
Ariella Goldstein (Muhlenberg College)
Erica Greil (Princeton University)
Greg Lichtenstein (Vassar College)
Scott Menke (Johns Hopkins University)
Mark Petterson (University of Kansas) |
Elyssa Browning (St. John's College)
Larissa Charnsangavej (Rice University)
Kadeem Cooper (University of Virginia)
Anthony Dedousis (Harvard University)
Jennifer Duann (Ohio State University)
Courtney Trezise (Michigan State University) |
|
| Season 26 (February 1, 2010 - February 12, 2010) |
Winner: Nick Yozamp (Washington University in St. Louis)
1st runner-up: Ryan Stoffers (University of California, Los Angeles)
2nd runner-up: Surya Sabhapathy (University of Michigan, $26,600) |
Dan D'Addario (Columbia University)
Lindsay Eanet (University of Missouri)
James Hill III (Santa Clara University)
Leah Anthony Libresco (Yale University)
Samira Missaghi (University of Minnesota)
Ashley Walker (Dartmouth College) |
Robbie Berg (University of Pennsylvania)
Rebecca Maxfield (Brown University)
Prashant Raghavendran (University of Texas-Dallas)
Lyndsey Romick (Lewis & Clark College)
Danny Vopava (University of Wisconsin)
Will Warren (University of Alabama) |
|
| Season 27 (November 8, 2010 - November 19, 2010) |
Winner: Erin McLean (Boston University)
1st runner-up: Sam Spaulding (Yale University)
2nd runner-up: Hans von Walter (Southern Adventist University) |
Sid Chandrasekhar (University of Pennsylvania)
Ellen Eichner (Ohio State University)
Marshall Flores (Arizona State University)
Steve Greene (University of California, Los Angeles)
Kyle Kahan (Texas A&M University)
Lea Tottle (Florida State University) |
Olivia Colangelo (University of Notre Dame)
Folake Dosu (Stanford University)
Steph Gagelin (University of North Dakota)
Amanda J. Ray (University of Virginia)
Tim Relihan (University of Nebraska)
Katie Singh (Northwestern University) |