"Ever since the Collegiate Starleague was founded in Spring 2009, our goal has been to promote the growth of gaming in the US, to re-create the excitement of the thousands of fans in Korean stadiums watching the Proleague finals. College seemed like the best way to do it – we are all college students, we love Starcraft, and our friends love Starcraft: it made sense. After five successful seasons of the CSL, we started thinking more about what it means to be a student gamer. Universities award scholarships to students who are high level athletes as well as to students who work to benefit their community through leadership and service. Gaming should be no different – there should be scholarships given to exemplary students who work to promote gaming in and around their community and also prioritize their education." - Duran "Xeris" Parsi, on the first CSL eSports Scholarship
Today, we are proud to announce this year’s CSL scholarships, sponsored by AZUBU! This year we will have four scholarships going to four outstanding students. Without further adieu, here are the categories:
Outstanding Player: Think of this as a “CSL MVP” award. We will be offering a $4,000 scholarship to the most outstanding player of this season. Players will be judged on a variety of factors including, but not limited to: record in the league, ability to win in the ace match, and his team’s placement in the league. The winning player will be chosen by a collection of CSL staff as well as a panel of industry figures.
Community Service: This $4,000 scholarship will be awarded to an individual who has gone above and beyond to ‘serve’ the gaming or eSports community. We are looking for individuals who work actively to promote eSports in a way that involves and brings students together, helps others, or engages the community more broadly. Applicants will be judged on the depth of their involvement in their communities and what specific plans they have initiated to help grow eSports and their community.
Leadership: Communities and organizations are spearheaded by leaders. We want to reward one amazing leader with a $4,000 scholarship for their work in building an eSports organization on their campus. We hope to recognize the contributions that leaders make to building the infrastructure that helps make us grow as well as lays a foundation for future classes of students. We will look for individuals that have built a strong, stable, and longlasting organization
Outstanding Academics: Every CSL player is also a student, and we want to take the time to reward one outstanding student a $4,000 scholarship. An outstanding student doesn’t necessarily have to have a 4.0 GPA; an outstanding student should be able to show that he or she is able to push themselves and excel academically while still being an active contributor (whether as a player or organizer) to their eSports club on campus.
How do I apply?
For all but the “Outstanding Player” award, all applicants must prepare a video application that states the following: Name, Age, Location, School, Year, Major as a basic introduction. What follows are more detailed guidelines each video should have:
- Community Service: tell us what you have done to help your community, locally, broadly, or both. What activities or events have you planned, do you work with League of Legends, StarCraft, or both? Show us that you have noticeably built your community over the past year.
- Leadership: tell us about what you have done to build your League of Legends/StarCraft/eSports club on campus. Do you have meetings? Do you have school funding? What does your organization look like and what role have you played? How are your CSL teams a part of the organization? Does it include members and activities that are not part of the league directly? What will happen when you graduate, how have you laid a foundation for the future?
- Outstanding Academics: We aren’t looking for a listing of what classes you took and what grades you got. We’re interested in how you are involved in eSports on your campus, how you balance that involvement with your academics, and what specifically have you worked on this past year (academically) that goes above and beyond just simply attending classes and doing well on exams. Show us why you are an exceptional student and still find time to be involved in eSports.
Dates and Deadlines
Applications are due Monday April 1st at 11:59pm PST. All applications need to be sent as a video file (whether it be a dropbox link that we can download the file, or some other method) to CSLSCHOLARSHIPS@gmail.com. We may ask to conduct interviews with some applicants to help our decision making process – interviews will be scheduled.[/b]!
Notes
- These scholarships are restricted to North America only! They are open to players or people representing either League of Legends or StarCraft II, except the Outstanding Player award (which is designed specifically for StarCraft II).
- We encourage creativity in the videos – take us on a tour (physical or virtual) of who you are and what you do!
- There is no length restriction or limit on the videos, use your best judgment! (we probably won’t want to watch an hour long video, and a 5 minute video is likely not long enough to convey who you are!)
- Late entries won’t be accepted!
- We MAY show some of the application videos at our Grand Final event.
Best of luck to everyone, and we look forward to receiving all your applications!
About the Collegiate Starleague:
The Collegiate Starleague is the premiere collegiate gaming league, with over 318 universities participating in its fifth season. The AZUBU Collegiate Champions is sponsored by AZUBU! In addition to the league, we run contests, tournaments, and work with universities to host and promote LAN events across North America. Check out www.cstarleague.com for more info!
Check us out on Liquipedia: Here
Follow @Cstarleague on Twitter: Here
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