New competitive collegiate esports series aims to provide a platform for women

A new collegiate VALORANT scene for women has been crated.

Image via Paidia, Xbox, and ESPORTSU

Three gaming events aimed at giving women players a platform to spotlight their achievements and skills are coming soon with the help of Xbox, ESPORTSU, and Paidia gaming. These gaming events will showcase women competing on a national level, and will be accompanied by two content series as well.

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The competitive national, collegiate VALORANT qualifying tournament with colleges participating across the U.S. and Canada will kick off the three events. It aims to spotlight top-tier collegiate women players and will culminate in one team punching their ticket to the finals event, which will be held at the Esports Stadium Arlington.

There will also be a tournament called Paidia Cup: Women’s Matchmaking Season, which is a national competition for women gamers. The top two teams from that tournament will move on to the finals, which will take place in Texas for the Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup from May 5 to May 7.

The two content series that will run are called the “Road to CECC,” which will follow participating teams as they make their way to the competition finals in Texas, and “Cast This” which focuses on discovering and developing shoutcasting talent.

“These events and content pieces aim to disrupt the industry, making gaming inviting, entertaining, and engaging, while fostering positive social connections,” a press release said about the event.

Those looking to enter their collegiate team can enter via Paidia’s website for the national collegiate women’s tournament. The Paidia Cup: Women’s VALORANT Matchmaking Season will run from February to May and will see many women gamers from across North America compete for the top two spots, which will be granted a spot in the finals. Each week, ESPORTSU’s Twitch channel will air one match of the tournament live.

Those looking to watch the matches can find them on ESPORTSU’s Twitch channel each week until both tournaments culminate in the finals event where the event will host various activities, including a vendor village, career fair, cosplay costume contests, esports celebrity meet and greets, and a technology expo.

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Image of Jessica Scharnagle
Jessica Scharnagle
Jessica has been an esports and gaming journalist for just over five years. She also teaches esports journalism at Rowan University. Follow her for all things gaming, @JessScharnagle on Twitter.