National body the British Esports Federation has announced a new Lioness Cup Valorant tournament as part of its Women in Esports initiative – and has won an award.
The Lioness Cup will be an ongoing series of free esports tournaments designed exclusively for women and marginalised genders.
The inaugural Women in Esports Lioness Cup is open to players aged 16 and above, and will feature 32 teams of five (plus two subs) from across the EMEA region, where players will compete in Valorant to be crowned the inaugural Lioness Cup Champions. The team cap was recently raised from 16 to 32 due to solid demand.
The initial tournament will have a prize pool of £500, with games getting underway on the weekend of October 8th and 9th 2022 and will be livestreamed on the Women in Esports Twitch channel.
The news comes after the Women in Esports Valorant showmatch at Insomnia 69, which saw two teams go head-to-head live on stage.
British Esports said in a press release: “As part of Women in Esports’ ongoing commitment to deliver more esports tournaments that cultivate an inclusive and productive space for women and marginalised genders, the Lioness Cup will help provide those competing with the opportunity to be recognised for their talents and potential minus the traditional levels of toxicity and discriminatory abuse found in gender split esports competitions.”
In other news, Women in Esports was also recognised recently in the Women in Games Global Awards 2022, where the initiative picked up the most inclusive esports initiative award.
Women in Esports co-founder Alice Leaman said: “I want to say thank you to everyone who voted for us, we’re so grateful. Thanks to the Women in Esports community and all the people who have given us advice, support and guidance, it’s really exciting to see how far we’ve come in just a few short years. I can’t wait to see where we go in the future.”
Women in Esports manager Billie Purdie added: “It’s an amazing feeling to accept this award. We’re going to keep continuing to move forward and keep pushing. Watch this space – this is really just the beginning.”
The closing date for registrations to the Lioness Cup is October 5th 2022. To register a team or simply gather more information, head on over to the Women in Esports Discord server.
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.
