It may be early in the new year but that doesn’t mean that the esports world isn’t already in full gear – the most prestigious British esports organisation has opened the sign-ups for one of its biggest projects this year.
The Spring 2020 Championships are a series of competitions targeted at students above the age of 12 in schools and colleges across all of England and the UK. The British Esports Association is a non-profit that partnered with the Twitch Student program last year, in order to bring this championship to schools across the country.
As part of the Championships, students will be representing their schools, colleges and educational institutes in weekly matches – specifically, on Wednesday afternoons. The current series will be running for eight weeks, until Easter this year.
© BEA
A wide range of educational institutions can take part – all secondary schools, Further Education Colleges, as well as Alternative Provision schools. The competition itself will be PC-based and feature team-based competitions. League of Legends, Overwatch and Rocket League are the three games that will be part of the event.
Each school is allowed to enter teams for the respective games – the League of Legends matches will be 5v5, the Overwatch games 6v6, and Rocket League 3v3, as per the normal tournament format of these games. All competitions will also be taking place on computer, so participating schools should have the right equipment.
Read also: Esports Guide for Parents: a useful guide created by the British Esports Association
Thanks to studies proving that esports and gaming can help improve things like cognition, behaviour, social and communication as well as leadership skills, the BEA is supporting this Championship series.
It’s not the first time either – after a successful first attempt in 2018 and another last year, this is the third year that this event has been running. As before, schools will also be able to develop their own Twitch page during the event and stream their games. This will mean further opportunities for student participation, as even the use of a shoutcaster is encouraged.
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In addition to this championship event series, BEA is also running several other campaigns and programs surrounding esports in Great Britain – one of them is their Women in Esports campaign. It’s no secret that there isn’t much in the way of gender equality in esports at the moment – while viewership numbers are high, participation and especially pro player numbers are a lot lower.
The Women in Esports campaign looks to change that by raising awareness of issues and improving inclusivity. The campaign wants to inspire future talent, improve the current standard of UK (and international) esports, and to promote esports in general.
As part of this campaign, BEA will be hosting activities and events, such as social media campaigns, interviews, a dedicated Twitch channel and more – all in the hopes of making it easier for women to participate in professional esports.
Read also: British Esports Association offers inclusive tournament for Alternative Provision schools
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