The British Esports Federation has expanded its amateur and grassroots scholastic esports competitions, Student Champs, for its 2023/24 season.
Student Champions, which is open to schools and colleges, will introduce ‘Open’ and ‘Nationals’ categories as well as adding StreetFighter 6 and Apex Legends tournaments.
The new Student Champs Open category is targeted towards newer participants who are entering the scholastic esports scene. As a result, the competitions will have lower stakes and can be utilised to scout students for institutions’ Nationals team the following year.
Students Champs’ Open system will have a £60 entry fee, plus £12 for every team entered, per title.
On the other hand, the Nationals system is designed for the best-performing schools and colleges across the UK. As a result, institutions can only enter one team for Nationals, per title.
The competition has a £150 entry fee and features tournaments in League of Legends, VALORANT, Rocket League and Overwatch 2. The same four titles are available in the Open category.
According to the announcement, the Grand Finals, which concludes the Winter and Spring split, will be held offline.
In addition to the main tournaments across both categories, Student Champs will also hold a variety of open-to-everyone cups. This includes competitions in Apex Legends, F1 and Street Fighter.
The new season also sees the return of the Women in Esports Cup and the Williams Racing League, which is in partnership with Williams Esports.
British Esports claims that Student Champs featured over 200 individual schools and colleges in its 2022/23 season. This includes 500 teams and around 5,000 students.
Esports competitions at a scholastic and collegiate level have started to gain more popularity in the UK as of late, albeit the country still trailing behind developments made in the US. Alongside Student Champs, UK students have opportunities to compete against other institutions through leagues and events run by the likes of NUEL and NSE, among others.
