South Korean esports organisation DRX has revealed that the country’s Ministry of Education Award has been given to the DRX Esports Academy.
According to the social media post, it marks the first time an esports team has received the award. The award was sealed on December 31st, 2025, and signed by South Korea’s Minister of Education, Cho Kyo-jin.
In a rough translation, DRX stated: “DRX Esports Academy has been awarded the Minister of Education Award in recognition of its achievements in community-linked career experience programmes.
“Moving forward, DRX will continue to contribute to fostering a healthy educational ecosystem beyond esports and create sustained social value.”
DRX Esports Academy is part of the organisation’s training programme, developing aspiring professional players for a career in the esports scene. As of writing, the academy currently fields active teams in competitive titles such as VALORANT and League of Legends.
In 2025, its VALORANT team competed in the VALORANT Challengers series in Korea, placing as high as fourth in Stage 3. On the other hand, the League of Legends team competed in the LCK AS Academy League last year, though it was the first team to be eliminated in both splits.
DRX in Esports
2025 was a hectic year for DRX in the esports ecosystem, with the organisation achieving success in VALORANT and falling short in League of Legends.
DRX’s VALORANT roster began the 2025 season by winning the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific Kickoff. As a result of its high placements in VCT Stage 1 and 2, DRX qualified for VALORANT Champions 2025, where it placed third overall. The retirement of DRX player Cho ‘Flashback‘ Min-hyuk also occurred, following the conclusion of the 2025 VCT OFF//SEASON.
The organisation saw more disappointing results in the League of Legends scene, placing ninth overall in the LCK 2025 season and missing out on both the Asia Invitational and Worlds 2025. It’s a far cry from its 2022 run, which saw the organisation beat T1 3-2 in the Grand Finals of 2022 Worlds.
In 2026, the organisation revamped its LCK roster, replacing Bae ‘Sponge’ Young-jun and Park ‘Teddy’ Jin-seong with ung ‘Jiwoo’ Ji-woo and Ha ‘Vincenzo’ Seung-min.
Elsewhere, DRX’s Tekken player Yoon ‘LowHigh’ Sun-woong won the Tekken World Tour 2025 Finals, winning the $100,00 (~£79,000) prize after defeating Virtus.pro’s Park ‘Mangja’ Geon-ho in the Grand Finals.
