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'Cards Against Humanity' expansion benefits women's STEM scholarship
Cards Against Humanity, the naughty fill-in-the-blank card game, today launched the $10 Science Pack, an expansion offering 30 cards written in collaboration with Bad Astronomer Phil Plait and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal creator Zach Weinersmith. But that's not the coolest part: All proceeds raised by the Science Pack will be funneled into the Cards Against Humanity and SMBC Science Ambassador Scholarship, which offers full tuition coverage to women seeking undergraduate degrees in science, tech, engineering and mathematics. Applications will go live soon for the fall 2016 school year, and each one will be reviewed by a panel of more than 40 women working in STEM fields, including at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Harvard Medical School and the Smithsonian Institution.
Hey, NPR: Stop trivializing eSports scholarships
On Monday, NPR's All Things Considered host Robert Siegel talked to New Tech City podcast host Manoush Zomorodi about Robert Morris University's new athletic scholarship program, the first of its kind in the United States – scholarships for League of Legends players. The hosts rattled off the stats: $500,000 for 30 scholarships, similar to some football scholarships the school offers. Zomorodi noted that 32 million people watched the final League of Legends championship game this year, more than watched the last game of the NBA finals. After talking to Robert Morris University's Associate Athletic Director Kurt Melcher, this happened: ZOMORODI: And from what I saw, Robert, it really was just like the football team or the track team - a tight-knit group. SIEGEL: (Laughter) So what's it like to be a collegiate e-athlete? Laughter. That's pulled directly from NPR's transcript of the broadcast, and you can listen to it here (this conversation at 3:08). During the final minutes of Siegel and Zomorodi's talk, there were titters and chuckles at factual information about the League of Legends scholarship. This bothered me.
Play League of Legends in college, win scholarship money
The League of Legends North American Collegiate Championship returns for the 2014 - 2015 season with a larger competition layout and new region splits. Last year, 540 teams competed from 300 universities across the US and Canada. "This year, the competition's even bigger," Riot says. "The season now spans the entire academic year and we've split North America into four competitive regions: North, South, East and West. We're also making it easier for new players and teams to compete by collaborating with four community partners with a solid history of running League tournaments." The Qualifiers kick off on October 17 and registration for both the Ivy League of Legends and Collegiate Star League tracks are open from now through October 16. Two additional, shorter Qualifier rounds hosted by TeSPA and WellPlayed Productions take place in early 2015. Each Qualifier track crowns one winning team per region, for a total of 16 groups in the playoffs. The playoffs should be held around April or May 2015, Riot says, and the North American Championship will take place in Los Angeles, California, later in 2015. The top four teams win scholarship money: $30,000 per team member for first place, $15,000 each for second, and $7,500 each for third and fourth. See the full registration schedule and rules in the NACC FAQ, and check out your school's clubs here. Good luck, Summoners of academia! [Image: Riot]
Illinois college offering scholarships to League of Legends players
Robert Morris University in Chicago put out a call recruiting League of Legends players to its first varsity eSports team earlier this month. According to Riot Games, RMU will become the first university to offer a competitive team at the varsity level, and will offer scholarships to players "of up to 50 percent tuition and 50 percent room and board." RMU is in the process of recruiting its team to join the Collegiate Star League (CSL) in the fall quarter, beginning in September. The CSL consists of teams from 103 educational institutions, including Arizona State, George Washington and Harvard, though RMU is the only one currently offering scholarships for competition. Robert Morris University's team comprises one varsity team and two practice teams. [Image: Riot Games]
Twitch, Newegg put $20,000 into High School StarLeague scholarship
High School StarLeague organizes esports competitions for high school students in North America, and this season it's offering a scholarship of more than $20,000 for the winners of its finals round in June. Twitch and Newegg each contributed $10,000 to High School StarLeague for the scholarship. "Through tournaments and scholarships, we plan to prepare our aspiring and talented gamers for the professional gaming scene, while simultaneously ensuring success in their education and character development outside of the game," High School StarLeague COO Jesse Wang said in a press release. Games included in the tournament are League of Legends, Dota 2 and StarCraft 2. The High School StarLeague 2013-2014 finals take place in June in Southern California, and they'll be broadcast live on Twitch. [Image: High School StarLeague]
SOE opens 2014 G.I.R.L. scholarship submissions
SOE has begun its 7th Gamers in Real Life Game Design Competition, inviting aspiring game developers to apply for a possible $10,000 college scholarship and a 10-week job as a paid intern at the studio. To apply, you'll need to be enrolled in an undergraduate program that has something to do with video games, have a 3.00 GPA or higher, be 18 or older, and be a legal resident of one of the 50 United States or District of Columbia. The application includes concept artwork, captions, and an essay. Interested participants need to submit their application by March 19th. We interviewed the 2013 winner, Esther Wu, last October about her experience with the competition, which is worth a read if you're interested in participating.
An interview with 2013 SOE G.I.R.L. Scholarship winner Esther Wu
Sony Online Entertainment's G.I.R.L. (short for Gamers in Real Life) scholarship was developed to encourage women to pursue careers in game development and design. The winners are selected via an annual competition and receive a $10,000 scholarship in addition to a valuable in-studio internship working on one of SOE's many games. The submissions, which this year consisted of art design pieces and essays on the topic of women in gaming, are reviewed by a panel of judges from SOE. This year's winner, Esther Wu, spent 10 weeks working with the PlanetSide 2 art team at SOE's San Diego headquarters. We sat down with her to learn more about the G.I.R.L. Scholarship, her internship, and where she hopes to go next.
Casual games competition site to offer college scholarships
Unlike other competitions that might, say, award efforts to design games for the greater good, ScholarGamers.com hopes to attract teens who simply excel at beating their peers in video games. It's a simple but effective pitch: "The concept of winning student scholarships for being an ultimate gamer should come as no surprise. After all, young athletes -- even bowlers -- can win scholarships for college based on their ability to play, score and outperform others. It's no different at ScholarGamers.com." Beginning November 1, when the site launches its first 2011 scholarship contest, Scholar Gamers promises to award "big cash for college" (first place nabs 10Gs) to several contestants who must work their way up from at-home Flash game phenoms to The Wizard-like big stage at Disney's BoardWalk Resort. But, you know, if you're that good at clicking smiley faces, why even bother with college? Just go pro.
Call of Duty Endowment announces game dev scholarship for vets
The last we heard about those Call of Duty Endowment dogooders was last year when the group came into existence, announcing intentions of assisting US military veterans with getting work when returning home. But just last week, CODE announced a partnership with two colleges to support scholarship programs in game development for veterans. Both Austin Community College in Austin, TX and Madison Area Technical College in Madison, WI will offer assistance to veterans "with the costs of software, transportation, and other educational needs" -- while the GI bill is intended to cover the cost of tuition -- to the tune of four $2,500 scholarships per academic year at each school ($1,250 for part-time students). The criteria for receiving aid at each school is slightly different, though not entirely dissimilar: both require a 2.5 cumulative GPA or higher in previous college work, to have been an honorably discharged veteran from the US Armed Forces and to demonstrate a financial necessity for the assistance. Applications are already open for the coming school year, the first of five years the program is scheduled to run (totaling $100,000 when all is said and done). Interested applicants are encouraged to apply for ACC here and MATC here. [Via GamePolitics]
WWDC Student Scholarship Info Posted
If you're hoping to go to WWDC on a student scholarship, better get applying soon. The deadline is fast approaching. Get those applications in by the 10th of April. Scholarship winners will be notified by email by the end of April. The WWDC scholarship offers a free ticket to WWDC with complete access to all tech sessions and special events, saving you somewhere roughly in the neighborhood of $1600. (We previously wrote about the scholarship here.) What's more, there's usually an all-day event just for student developers plus a career fair where you can meet hiring managers from many Mac development companies. Thanks Joseph Agreda
ESA Foundation offering $45K in game dev scholarships
The Entertainment Software Association Foundation has announced the start of a new undergraduate scholarship program aimed at women and minority applicants who are looking to get into the games industry. Up to fifteen scholarships for $3,000 USD will be awarded, making for a grand total of $45,000 to be given away by the Foundation each year.The scholarship applies only to full-time undergraduate students during the 2008-09 school year, and is targeted toward women and minority students who intend on entering the games industry. News of this scholarship closely follows the announcement of the second year of Penny Arcade's own scholarship, which awards $10,000 to a single student each year. The deadline for the ESA scholarship is May 15. More details can be found here.
