The event brings together the top university English-language public speakers in North America. The format of the competition consists of three preliminary rounds of competition after which all competitors are ranked by total score. The grand final brings the top five competitors to compete against each other. A judging panel representing both CUSID and APDA judges then decides the final ranking order and the first-place speaker is named North American Public Speaking Champion. The event is dominated by universities from Canada and the USA; only a few universities from Mexico have ever competed. Since its inception, Canada has won eight times out of twelve. Since 2002, it has been held biannually.
