The Coolidge Cup | Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation

2019 Coolidge Cup championship round debaters Ezra Schrader (left) and Joshua Anumolu (right)

Overview

The Coolidge Cup is a national invitational speech and debate tournament sponsored by the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation. It is held in President Coolidge’s historic hometown of Plymouth, Vermont, and takes place each year during the week of the Fourth of July. More than $15,000 in scholarship prize money is awarded to the top finishers. The competition days are July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. (Competitors should treat July 1st and 5th as travel days.) It is a fully chaperoned experience, and most travel expenses are covered for competitors.

The 2023 Coolidge Cup Schedule is available here [PDF]. This is subject to change, so if at any time you want to make sure that you have the latest version, come back here and check.

How to Qualify

To compete in the Coolidge Cup, students must qualify in either declamation or debate through various Coolidge Cup qualifier competitions held across the country. See the list of qualifying methods for details. Ten students will compete in declamation at the Coolidge Cup, and over 90 students will compete in debate at the Coolidge Cup.

Prizes

More than $15,000 in scholarship prizes will be awarded at the 2023 Coolidge Cup.

For declamation, the prize structure is as follows: 1st Place $1,000; 2nd Place $750; 3rd Place $500; 4th Place $250. The top 4 finishers in declamation will each receive a trophy. All declamation competitors will receive our Coolidge Cup leather notebook.

For debate, the prize structure is as follows: 1st Place $5,000; 2nd Place $4,000; 2 Semi-Finalists $1,000 each; 4 Quarter-Finalists $500 each. The top 8 finishers in debate will each receive a trophy. All octofinalists (the top 16) will receive our Coolidge Cup leather notebook and an automatic invitation to next year’s Coolidge Cup tournament.

Format

For declamation, each student will declaim multiple speech excerpts from speeches by President Coolidge. Some of these declamations will be delivered in front of a small panel of judges, and some will be delivered in front of judges and peers at one of our larger assemblies. Students will be scored at each of these, and ranked based on their cumulative scores. These speeches are assigned a few weeks in advance of the tournament so that students may familiarize themselves with the material. It is not expected that students memorize the speech excerpts.

For debate, competitors will compete in four preliminary rounds over multiple days. The top 32 competitors will then move on to the elimination portion of the tournament, eventually ending in a championship round.

Speech Packet (for Declaimers), and Resolution & Research Brief (for Debaters)

For declaimers, the speech packet for declamation will be posted here in early June. Please check back then for details.

For debaters, the resolution for the tournament is, “Resolved: Among U.S. Presidents, Calvin Coolidge should be ranked in the top 10, not 24th.” (For reference, in the most recent ranking of presidents published by C-Span, President Coolidge was ranked 24th.)

The intent of this resolution is to have students debate the relative merits and achievements of U.S. Presidents, with a focus on President Coolidge’s place in history. While it may be necessary to briefly explain or defend your choice of criteria by which Presidential performance should be measured, do not let your round to be dominated by argumentation about the fine details of ranking methodologies. Judges will be instructed to reward cases that primarily feature historical and economic arguments over cases that completely depend on methodological critiques.

The research brief is available here (PDF). The purpose of the brief is to help you get started on your case preparation. You are welcome and encouraged to use the brief as a starting point and build upon it by doing your own additional research and case-writing. You are not limited to the arguments and sources in the brief.

Volunteer to Judge at the Coolidge Cup

The Coolidge Foundation highly values the idea of the “citizen judge,” as we believe that good speech and debate should be aimed at making a logical case that any person can understand. Volunteer judges do not need any prior experience in speech, debate, or judging. If you are interested in judging, take a look at our Information for Judges. We will provide all the judge training you need. If you are interested in judging, please Register to Judge.

Competitors are not obligated to provide a certain number of judges. However, if your coach or family member is joining you at the Coolidge Cup and is interested in judging, he or she can indicate that they would like to judge using the registration link above.

Register for the Coolidge Cup

Below is the registration form for the 2023 Coolidge Cup. If you have received and accepted an invitation from the Coolidge Foundation to compete in the 2023 Coolidge Cup, then please fill out this form. This is the form that truly makes your participation official! This information is extremely important to our planning and it is required in order to secure your spot. If you fail to register by the time we close this registration form on Thursday, June 1st, then you will not be able to compete at the Coolidge Cup.

Competitor Information
In the following form, "you" refers to the student Coolidge Cup competitor.
First Name*
Last Name*
Name Pronunciation
If you think it might help us, feel free to include any tips on how to pronounce your name. Put accented syllables in all-caps. (E.g., KATH-rin BASS-it)
Email*
Be sure to give us an email address that you will still have access to through the month of July. (Some school email accounts expire for seniors after graduation.)
Enter Email Confirm Email
Phone
Street Address*
City/Town*
State*
Zip*
High School
What high school do you attend? (Or if homeschool, write Homeschool.)
Grade*
What grade are you in for the 2022-2023 school year?
College
Optional: If you are headed to college next year and you already know where you are going, you can share that here.
Debate Coach Email Address
Do you have a debate coach at your school? If so, and if you would like to provide his or her email address, do so here so that we can let him or her know about next year's qualifier tournaments and other opportunities that we might have in the future.
Have you ever competed at the Coolidge Cup before?*
(We're referring to the actual Coolidge Cup that we hold in Vermont in July each year, not our Coolidge Cup qualifier tournaments.)
Primary Speech or Debate Event*
Competitors have qualified for the Coolidge Cup via a variety of events (e.g., Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, Team Policy, Parli, Congress, Coolidge, World Schools, Extemp Speech, Impromptu Speech, Duo Interp, etc.). We're curious: when you debate competitively in your home league, what do you consider your "primary" event?
Other Primary Speech or Debate Event
Icebreaker*
What's one hobby or interest of yours other than speech and debate that you'd welcome other people to start a conversation with you about? (E.g., soccer, economics, theater, guitar, politics, cooking, magic, coin collecting, etc.) This will be shared with everyone in the competitor directory that you'll get as part of your welcome packet.
T-Shirt Size*
Everyone gets a Coolidge Cup t-shirt. (How cool is that!) What size would you like?
Morning Church Option on Sunday, July 2nd
In years past, when the tournament falls on a Sunday, we have been able to help students attend morning religious services. Unfortunately, there are only two options in our area. We can bus you to the Catholic Church in Ludlow, VT, for mass at 9am. We can also let you into the Union Christian Church at the Coolidge Historic Site in Plymouth, VT, for your own silent reflection (no service per se). Are you interested in either of these?
Travel Plans
How are you planning to travel to the Coolidge Cup?*
If you are not within driving distance of Vermont, then you are probably going to be flying. If you are flying, we ask that you fly into Boston Logan Airport (BOS) and then ride our bus to the hotel in Vermont. We will have two buses bringing students, coaches, and family members from Boston Logan Airport to the hotel in Vermont on July 1st. (We are not providing bus service from any other airport.)
Arrival Airline*
(E.g., American, United, JetBlue, Delta, Southwest, Alaska, Spirit)
Arrival Flight Number*
(Probably a three- or four-digit flight number, like 2186, 4788)
Arrival Time at Boston Logan Airport*
Please pick a flight that gets into Boston no later than 3pm on July 1st.

: HH

MM
Do you have a coach or any family members who will also be riding our bus from Boston Logan Airport to the hotel in Vermont on July 1st?
If so, please list them here by their full name and separated by a comma (e.g., "John Doe, Jane Doe").
Roughly what time do you expect to arrive at the hotel?*
We'll have a staff member at the hotel starting around 5pm. If you are driving straight to the hotel, try to plan to arrive at the hotel in Vermont between 5pm and 6:30pm so that we can check you in and you can hear our welcoming remarks and be there for pizza. If you know you'll be earlier or later than that, please indicate it here.

: HH

MM
How are you planning to get home from the Coolidge Cup?*
Many students ride our bus back to Boston Logan Airport and then either fly or continue their journey home from there. We will have two buses bringing students, coaches, and family members from the hotel in Vermont to Boston Logan Airport on July 5th. (We are not providing bus service to any other airport.) Or if you prefer, and you have a car, you can drive home.
Do you have a coach or any family members who will also be riding our bus from the hotel in Vermont to Boston Logan Airport on July 5th?
If so, please list them here by their full name and separated by a comma (e.g., "John Doe, Jane Doe").
Departure Airline*
(E.g., American, United, JetBlue, Delta, Southwest, Alaska, Spirit)
Departure Flight Number*
(Probably a three- or four-digit flight number, like 2186, 4788)
Departure Time from Boston Logan Airport*
Please pick a flight that leaves Boston no earlier than 12pm (noon) on July 5th.

: HH

MM
If you are driving home from the hotel, when do you plan to leave?*
For people who are driving home, it possible to leave on July 4th after the awards ceremony in the late afternoon, rather than staying over on the final night. Please indicate if you plan to check out of the hotel and drive home on July 4th after the tournament awards ceremony is over, or on July 5th when most people leave.
Hotel
All competitors will stay at the same hotel in Vermont (The Pointe at Castle Hill in Proctorsville, VT).
What is your rooming preference?*
The Coolidge Cup is a fully chaperoned experienced. It is not required or expected that parents or coaches attend, but of course they may if they wish to (note: hotel space is very limited). The Coolidge Foundation will cover the hotel cost for competitors. If a competitor rooms with another competitor, then the full cost of the room is covered. If the competitor rooms with coach or family member, then the Coolidge Foundation will pay for the competitor's half of the hotel room.
Coach or family member(s) also staying at the hotel*
What are the name(s) of the coach or family member(s) who are also staying at the hotel? Please type each full name, separated by a comma.
Your Sex*
This is for roommate pairing purposes only. If you are going to room with another Coolidge Cup competitor, we will pair you with someone of the same sex.
Roommate Preference
If there's a friend or classmate of yours who you know is competing at the tournament and you would like to room together, let us know and we will try to arrange that. Type his or her name below. No guarantees.
Emergency Contact Information
Please enter the following information about your parent or guardian.
First Name*
Last Name*
Relationship to You*
Parent/Guardian Email*
Parent/Guardian Phone*
Medical Information
Food, Diet, Allergies
The Coolidge Foundation provides meals during the week of the Coolidge Cup. Please indicate any serious food allergies or special dietary restrictions you have.
Medical Information*
Every competitor needs to fill out our medical information form. Please download the form using the following URL, fill out the form, and then upload a photo or a scan of it here.

https://coolidgefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Medical-Form.pdf
Media Release and Code of Conduct
Media Release Form*
Every competitor needs to fill out our Media Release form. Please download the form using the following URL, fill out the form, and then upload a photo or a scan of it here.

https://coolidgefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Media-Release-Form.pdf
Code of Conduct Agreement*
Every competitor needs to agree to our code of conduct for the tournament. Please download the form using the following URL, read and sign the form, and then upload a photo or a scan of it here.

https://coolidgefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Debater-Code-of-Conduct.pdf

2018 Coolidge Cup winners with Robert L. Luddy, Maria Luddy, Ben Voth, and Jared Rhoads

Speech & Debate

Competitor Information

Travel Plans

Hotel

Emergency Contact Information

Medical Information

Media Release and Code of Conduct