It’s been quite the year. It’s safe to say that most of us were feeling like the “This is fine” dog throughout 2020, however, though last year felt like it was on fire, we want to share the many positives that have come from it.
(credit: KC Green)
The 2019/2020 British University Esports Championship was our biggest and most competitive championship yet and the winter 2020 season hit record numbers of participants. To recap 2020, here’s what you guys got up to. You...
...represented 103 separate universities.
...competed across 56 tournaments.
...were one of 10,500 students taking part in a total of 1,852 teams across spring, summer and winter.
...were very busy! Across spring and winter, 12,000 matches took place resulting in thousands of hours played.
...were big fans of League of Legends. It was the most popular championship with 1,170 participants and 2,122 matches played.
...spoke up about new games, so VALORANT & Teamfight Tactics were added to the British University Esports Championship.
...demonstrated passion. The active sim racing community, BUSR joined NSE as an affiliate league.
...played so well that an NSE team was picked up by a pro team for the first time and competed in Rainbow Six Siege’s UKIN.
...put others first. Collectively, you raised £10,364 for our charity partner, SpecialEffect.
Throughout such a difficult year, we’ve been in awe of your continued enthusiasm and drive for the games you love and for the championship, so we want to thank each and everyone one of you for being part of the NSE community.
Behind the scenes, we’ve been pretty busy too! We said goodbye to Jon Tilbury in December. Jon was NSE’s managing director, who has been with us from the start and now has moved on to join Riot. While we will miss him, he leaves us with many fond memories and we wish him every success.
This month, we’ve welcomed Alex Coulson to the NSE family as our new MD and we couldn’t be more excited for the future and the expertise he brings to the team. Alex was involved in the early days of NSE’s inception and has provided us support over the years.
Jon Tilbury, former NSE Managing Director said:
“The journey NSE has taken over the past three years is one I won’t forget. The team has worked so hard and has such passion, and after working with Alex, I know NSE is in safe hands to go from strength to strength. I’m proud and grateful to have been part of NSE’s journey and I’m looking forward to watching their continued success.”
Alex Coulson, NSE Managing Director added:
“I’ve been a long time admirer of NSE and feel lucky to have watched it grow from the very beginning. Working with Jon over the years has been a pleasure and I wish him all the best in his new role at Riot. I have huge respect for what NSE have done and it’s a real privilege to now play an active role in the team as we work on many new and exciting projects this year.”
The NSE Team
While we’re talking about the team, we want to use this opportunity to reintroduce the rest of the team to you:
Becky “beedub” Wright
A new face to join the team in 2020, Becky is our professional people person who looks after all things relating to the community and also marketing.
Charlie "CharlieTizard" Tizard
Charlie is our Head of Events. Looking after our live events and broadcasts, he’s responsible for the planning and execution of the BUEC finals and our livestreams.
Chris “Hench” Henshaw
Needs no introduction. Hench is our omnipotent tournament guru aka Head of League Ops.
Sam “Hibbo” Hibbert
Our Head of Partnerships. Sam is the one who manages our relationships with our lovely partners like Intel and Barclays. He’s also the very important guy who helps get copious amounts of Monster to your socials.
Other 2020 Highlights
Last year saw the first Intel FutureGen Programme, set up with the goal to give you an opportunity to actually speak with working professionals within various roles of the esports & gaming industry, which can be quite elusive at times. The programme is continuing this year and applications are currently open. Want something that looks great on your CV?
You can apply for it here. The deadline is on Sunday!
We also welcomed Barclays as a new partner. For all of you aspiring developers, yesterday announced the Games Innovation Challenge with Barclays. You have ten weeks to create the best competitive and innovative game with the chance to win a chunk of the £5,000 prize pool. You can read more about it here and also apply.
With the announcement of the nationwide lockdown last year, we put our heads together with Monster Energy and came up with the Stay Home Series to keep you guys entertained, and it’s safe to say that you were! With just under 200 teams across 65 universities, you collectively played 30,000 hours of games across 500 matches and your efforts didn’t go unnoticed. We distributed 11,400 cans of Monster Energy out to winners and participants.
As always, Monster Plays is one of our favourite parts of the championship. This year, 492 clips were submitted and you were keen to let us know which was your favourite! 1,340 student votes were cast to decide which clip was worthy of being crowned a Monster play.
Last year we welcomed Animal Crossing to our community and it’s quickly proven to be the most wholesome part of the NSE discord server for sure. We’ve loved watching you share your turnip prices, DIYs, visiting each other’s islands and we’ll be back to running regular Animal Crossing events again soon.
Lastly, the NSE 2020 student fundraising campaign raised a whopping £10,364 for SpecialEffect. Just under £5,000 was accumulated through society jersey sales so a big thanks to everyone who used the Intel & Raven deal to donate money to the campaign. If you're keen to take part this year, the NSE student fundraising campaign is coming back and we'll be releasing details on it soon.
After such a turbulent year, we can’t wait to see what 2021 will bring and dates for the spring season will be released soon. Stay tuned for more details!
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