The Jeopardy! College Championship is one of the traditional tournaments held each season on the TV quiz show Jeopardy! Contestants in this tournament are full-time undergraduate college students with no prior degrees and traditionally wear a sweater bearing the name of their college or university during their appearances. The existence of this tournament does not disqualify college students from auditioning for the regular shows, but tournament participants cannot later compete in regular play. The tournament began during the 1988-89 season (Season 5) and has been played every season (except for seasons 31 and 35), always during any one of the three traditional sweeps ratings periods (November, February, or May) with the exception of being held in April 2018 due to Alex Trebek's brain surgery and April 2020 due to The Greatest of All Time Tournament. Some contestants for the inaugural tournament were selected through contestant searches held in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Palm Springs, California, during the Spring break season in 1989.