The inaugural Scholastic Esports Awards will debut this January (2025), marking a significant milestone for the scholastic esports and competitive gaming community.
An initiative led by Esports Foundry, VOICE, and other organizations, this event will bring together educators, students, and industry experts for a celebration of talent, dedication, and innovation within the scholastic esports space.
The Scholastic Esports Awards will aim to recognize and honor the exceptional achievements of students, schools, organizations, and leaders involved in the scholastic esports community. While there will be some similarities to categories of past initiatives, the Scholastic Esports Awards ultimately seeks to build a long term focus on ensuring authentic representation and true reflection of community and competitive values.
Many organizations supporting scholastic esports at both the K-12 and college levels currently offer awards and laurels within their communities.
Chris Postell from Esports Foundry believes that collaboration and open communication are the keys necessary for the scholastic esports industry to find its national voice.
“We have yet to see a national initiative that can bring all communities together,” notes Postell. “I see the Scholastic Esports Awards as a beacon that not only walks toward this goal – but also authentically supports existing infrastructure to celebrate their communities in their own ways.”
The Scholastic Esports Awards Structure
The Scholastic Esports Awards structure will be operated through an Awards Committee, overseen by VOICE, a non-profit member organization dedicated to advocacy within scholastic esports.
Through a system of public voting and committee led organization, the Awards will debut recognition that authentically resonates on a national level. This Committee will be announced in the Fall, with open and public criteria for the selection processes.
More than just an award show however, the Scholastic Esports Awards seeks to take a further step in its vision to support national scholastic esports infrastructure. Attendees will be able to look forward to carefully curated programming that is designed to facilitate and expose high-level discussions surrounding both K-12 and college esports.
Through a variety of panels, workshops, group sessions, and keynote presentations, attendees will be able to gain valuable insights and strategies to support the long-term growth and sustainability of the scholastic esports space.
These activities will speak personally not just to coaches and directors, but also faculty, students, clubs, programs, and third party organizations.
Examples of such programming will include:
- Best practices behind recruiting and operations for esports programs
- Strategies on cultivating strategic partnerships, sponsorships, and alliances within the esports economy.
- Building allyship on and off campus
- Discussions concerning the forefront of esports academic integration
- Leveraging the value of esports from the perspective of local businesses and government
- Building safe spaces and nurturing diverse communities in gaming
- Best practices in regard to broadcasting
- Presentations on academic and other published esports research
- Social activities geared towards both students and professionals
In addition to the above, the Scholastic Esports Awards will establish open forums to help integrate scholastic esports with the larger education and games industries as a whole.
With an intention on breaking down barriers of inclusivity and awareness that innately separate scholastic esports from both broader markets, invitations will include game studio publishers, developers, university and public education leaders, and other key stakeholders within the overall industry.
“Each of these events are important and necessary in their own right, but it’s the combination of the Scholastic Esports Awards and curated programming that will create an unique platform to hold up our community’s achievements and inspire growth in scholastic esports,” said Jesse Bodony, co-Executive Director of VOICE.
To stay up to date with the Scholastic Esports Awards, please visit their webpage for more information ScholasticEsportsAwards.com and stay up to date on their socials for more immediate communications at ScholasticEA on X/Twitter and Scholastic Esports Awards on LinkedIn.
About Esports Foundry:
Esports Foundry™ offers complete esports consulting services, tailored to manage and grow esports centers, schools, and organizations.
From facility and program development to center management software to apparel they can help your program regardless of where you are in the process.
About VOICE:
Voice of Intercollegiate Esports (VOICE) is a non-profit organization uniting higher education in collegiate esports through research, education, and advocacy.
VOICE shapes the landscape of higher education by building an inclusive and sustainable collegiate esports ecosystem that represents the best interests of students and institutions.
The President’s Advisory Council of VOICE, composed of university leaders, spearheads initiatives to tackle industry issues and drive the organization’s mission forward.
