Women in Esports, an initiative created by not-for-profit organisation the British Esports Association, has announced a partnership with Dota Valkyries.
Dota Valkyries is a support organisation for women in the Dota 2 professional scene.
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According to the release, the partnership will see both parties collaborate to support women within the Dota 2 scene and increase participation of marginalised genders within esports.
Natacha Jones, Women in Esports Chair, commented: “We’re extremely excited to have partnered with an organisation that closely shares our values. From the offset, it’s been clear that we have similar goals and through collaboration, we hope to drive long-standing change within the esports industry.
“By partnering with the Valkyries we look to encourage participation of marginalised genders, celebrate existing talent and to band together in larger conversations surrounding inclusivity and diversity within the industry”.
The first activity Women in Esports and the Dota Valkyries will be working on together is the Valkyrie Cup, a mixed-gender community tournament set to take place on September 18th-19th.
The competition will feature teams of five players, with a minimum of two female or non-binary players and a maximum of 3 male players. Moreover, all players’ ranking must be under 4000 matchmaking rating (MMR) in Dota 2.
Prizes for the tournament consist of 40 Dota 2 Battle Pass Levels.
The event will be hosted on the Women in Esports Battlefy webpage and broadcasted on the British Esports Twitch channel.
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Emma Brown, Dota Valkyries Co-Founder, added: “We are delighted to have Women in Esports as our first partnership, and can’t wait to see the incredible work we are able to achieve together.
“This partnership hopes to be a fantastic consolidation of skills, networks and creativity which will help give us the means to support women throughout the esports industry. Through this partnership, you can expect further collaboration through content creation, co-branded tournaments and involvement in research projects”.
Esports Insider says: Collaborations that aim to promote diversity and inclusivity in esports are admirable and much-needed initiatives within the industry. This collaboration in particular has the potential to help develop the female esports ecosystem whilst also creating more inclusivity-promoting competitive opportunities.