Grants & Awards

NASEF Runs Non-Player Esports Challenge

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 05/21/20

Esports clubs have until May 29, Friday, to submit their entries to the NASEF "Beyond the Game Challenge." This competition, being run by the North America Scholastic Esports Federation, asks club members to show off their skills that have nothing to do with playing online video games, whether that's running events, raising money, handling behind-the-scenes operations, creating fan art or other activities. Prize bundles include $500 individual scholarships and esports club grants, along with gift cards, a pizza party, tech gear and recognition on the NASEF website and social media.

"We want to see students' passion for esports and their clubs come alive this spring!," the official directions proclaim. "Use those creativity, curiosity, problem-solving and critical thinking skills to take on one or more challenges." This competition is intended not for players, necessarily, but for content creators, strategists, entrepreneurs and organizers.

The challenges roster includes:

• "Clip it," for clubs or participants who want to share their photos and videos of club activities;

• "We're going live," to show off live streaming skills;

• "Time to party," to show how to run a viewing party, whether on-campus or virtually;

• "When I grow up," to share an interview done with somebody in the esports industry;

• "Bring the game to life," to create digital fan art inspired by a favorite game;

• "Getting into character," to put together a cosplay costume;

• "Characters come alive," to produce fine art fan art;

• "Making money moves," to host a fundraiser;

• "Let's get hype," to create a club or team video;

• "Achieve peak performance," to submit a healthy gaming plan for the team or club;

• "Adopt a bot," to create a Discord server and implement a bot in it;

• "Fix the meta," to analyze a recent game patch and why it makes the game-playing better;

• "Blocks rock," to create an esports map using Minecraft; and

• "Put me in, coach!" to analyze game play with video-on-demand reviews.

Participants must be an active member of an esports club that is part of NASEF. Entries need to be submitted by 5 p.m. Pacific time, May 29, 2020.

Full details are on the NASEF website.