For transparency: Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco used to work full-time for British Esports between September 2016 and February 2021, and currently does some freelance work for them, producing their weekly email newsletter
The British Esports Association’s Women in Esports initiative, set up to promote inclusivity and diversity within the esports industry, has announced a new partnership with Dota Valkyries.
The Dota Valkyries offer support to players in Dota 2, from grassroots to pro, and aim to expand the Dota 2 community and bring more women into competitive play.
Both parties will aim to work together in supporting women within the Dota 2 scene, in addition to increasing participation of marginalised genders within esports.
“By partnering with the Valkyries we look to encourage participation of marginalised genders, celebrate existing talent and to band together in larger conversations surrounding inclusivity and diversity within the industry.”
Natacha Jones, Women in Esports Chair
The first activity Women in Esports and the Dota Valkyries will be working on together is the Valkyrie Cup community tournament. The mixed-gender tournament will take place between September 18th and 19th 2021.
In terms of entry requirements, a team must consist of a minimum of five players, with a minimum of two female or non-binary players and a maximum of three male players. Players must also have no more than 4,000 MMR (match making rating) at the time of registration.
When asked by Esports News UK for the reasoning behind this elo/MMR cap, organisers said in a statement: “This is just the first of many events British Esports plans to support Dota Valkyries on, with many uncapped tournaments and opportunities for all players planned for the near future.
“Both parties thought best that we have this first event to have lower stakes while maximising participation, so we can use this event to get feedback on how to move forward. We are collating all feedback so we can improve and develop what we do moving forwards in any events and tournaments in the future of the partnership.”
In terms of prizes, each player on the winning team will receive 24 Battle Pass Levels, second place will receive 11 and the third-place players will take home five.
Women in Esports chair Natacha Jones commented: “We’re extremely excited to have partnered with an organisation that closely shares our values. From the offset, it’s been clear that we have similar goals and through collaboration, we hope to drive long-standing change within the esports industry.
“By partnering with the Valkyries we look to encourage participation of marginalised genders, celebrate existing talent and to band together in larger conversations surrounding inclusivity and diversity within the industry.”
Emma Brown at Dota Valkyries added: “We are delighted to have Women in Esports as our first partnership, and can’t wait to see the incredible work we are able to achieve together. This partnership hopes to be a fantastic consolidation of skills, networks and creativity which will help give us the means to support women throughout the esports industry.”
Women in Esports has held other tournaments in the past, including the Lioness League CSGO tournament with FaceIt.
Sign ups are now open on the Women in Esports Battlefy page, the rules can be found here and team verification will be conducted the day before the tournament on the Valkyrie Cup Discord server. The event will be broadcast on the British Esports Twitch channel, and community streams from those taking part is encouraged, plus live match coverage will be posted on the new Women in Esports Twitter page.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
