Photo by Joe Brady
Norton College today won the Digital Schoolhouse Smash Bros finals in London for the second year in a row, making them the best college student Smash Bros team in the UK.
Their team, Thunk ‘N’ Dunk, won the 2023 Digital Schoolhouse Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Team Battle Grand Final today at BAFTA in London, after defeating Langley Grammar School’s bandana-wearing Team Daytona 3-0 in the final.
Cheshire College South and West’s Sandstorm took third place, while New College Swindon’s NSH Smash team finished fourth in the double elimination tournament.
It comes after Norton College won the 2022 Digital Schoolhouse Smash Bros tournament last year.
With the event supported by Nintendo Switch, the final four teams won a host of Nintendo goodies including plush toys, T-shirts, Switch games and more, with the grand finalists also receiving medals, and a trophy for their schools. Norton College also received a framed Smash Bros key illustration print.
Students also won other competitions in journalism, design and casting (see further in the article for these).
A range of talent helped cover proceedings at the Digital Schoolhouse Smash Bros finals, with Alysia Judge hosting and Bowie the Hero casting, alongside a variety of guest student commentators. Another caster, Nimmz, was due to take part, but unfortunately missed out due to illness.
There were also guest industry talks on the day, including a panel on ‘Neurodiversity in the Games Industry’ featuring Adam Boyne, Co-Director at BetaJester Ltd, Harriet Frayling, Project Lead at Many Cats Studios, and Dom Shaw, EDI Coordinator at Ukie, plus Alysia Judge moderating. Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco, also gave a keynote on esports careers.
There was real togetherness shown by the students on the day, with a friendly competitive spirit. After Norton won the grand final 3-0, the two teams played a couple more fun showmatches to give the audience a full five games.
A special shoutout must also go out to Jase at Cheshire College South, who pulled off an impressive 1v2 play as Sora to beat Langley earlier on in the day.
Digital Schoolhouse is a games education initiative from UK games industry trade body Ukie. New talent will be expected next year, with the two grand final teams graduating, and some students preparing to go to university.
Student caster, journalism and brand design winners announced
Aside from the top teams playing in the Digital Schoolhouse Smash Bros finals, there were other winners announced on the day.
KJ (pictured right), from Langley Grammar School, was awarded the best shoutcaster award from pro caster Bowie (left), while Jack from New College Swindon was named runner-up. They both received a bunch of goodies, with KJ also winning a trophy for his school.
Bowie said it was very hard for him to pick a winner and runner-up, and said that Jack the runner-up also had good potential.
KJ said:
“Langley may have lost [in the final today] and the team are going away to university, but that doesn’t mean the end of Langley. Next year, we’re gonna win!”
KJ, Langley Grammar School
Orlaith Henry from St Mary’s College in Derry, Northern Ireland, won the journalism award and Nintendo goodies for their article titled ‘Northern Ireland’s Only All-Female Esports Team’. This will be published on Esports News UK in the coming days, after editor Dom Sacco judged the competition and selected theirs as the winning article, as it was engaging, well-written and fun.
She was accompanied by her teachers as well as fellow student Erin Campbell, who is also on her esports team.
Orlaith said: “I didn’t really know what to write! But I ended up writing about what I felt about the team. It’s been really fun playing in Digital Schoolhouse too, but we haven’t got to many finals because people practice more than we do!
“Thanks to our coach Jay Dickson – he teaches us and brings us snacks to fuel our practice each week!”
Smash Bros winners Norton College also won the brand design competition thanks to Chelsea Manaois’ design for a new team logo and branding (see below).
This design competition was judged by Kevin Flynn, Brand Director at Creative Assembly, and Chelsea won goodies from the game developer and more. Unfortunately Chelsea couldn’t attend due to exams, but was recognised for her designs on the day.
Kevin Flynn said at the Digital Schoolhouse Smash Bros finals today: “This was executed really well and was a brave rebrand – it’s taken the brand to a much more modern space. I liked the colours and the composition – congratulations to Norton College.”
Students and games industry members visit Number 10
The Digital Schoolhouse Smash Bros finals come one day after members of the games and esports industry attended 10 Downing Street, along with students from the Digital Schoolhouse programme.
Digital Schoolhouse said on Twitter: “The team was proud to attend a celebration of the UK games industry at Downing Street. It gave us a great opportunity to advocate for the positive impact of esports in education.”
MP Alex Sobel also showed his support for the Digital Schoolhouse finals in a message sent to Ukie.
What the winners of the Digital Schoolhouse Smash Bros finals said – video interview with team Thunk ‘N’ Dunk from Norton College
Norton College’s winning trio of Nathan Bennison, Harry Young (pictured in the thumbnail above) and Tom Smith, the newer player in the team, caught up with us after the final.
Tom Smith said: “Trying to keep the belt was a motivating factor during my training. Last year I organised a Discord group with a bunch of teams [from last year’s tournament] and I’ve been practicing with them. It’s been really helpful. As for continuing in esports, I hope to eventually host some tournaments somewhere down the line.”
Harry Young said his secret to success was… “Fire Emblem!”
He said: “Everyone here was exceptional, it was inspiring and wonderful to see everyone playing really well at this stage.”
Harry added to Esports News UK in a post-match interview after the Digital Schoolhouse Smash Bros finals:
“To be back to back champions [and taking part in this tournament] is extremely exhilarating and exciting, honestly.”
Harry Young, Norton College
“With me going to uni next year, I mentioned in my personal statement that I attended these tournaments, and that might well have been the thing that got me accepted into uni, so it’s definitely been worth it.
“I’m definitely going to continue playing Smash at uni. I’ll be studying maths and computer science.”
“We had Tom taking over from our previous teammate this year and he’s super good at the game! In terms of the standard of competition this year, it was brilliant, everyone gave their all and it wasn’t some pushover – we really had to try!”
Nick Austin, IT technician at Norton College, commented: “It’s really good fun, the kids seem to get a huge amount of value doing these types of programs. It’s absolutely fantastic taking home the victory, but it’s all about preparing them for later life and thinking about the things they can do in the industry. This programme, Digital Schoolhouse, is all about that. It’s about preparing kids and educating them around what’s in the industry and what they can do in later life.”
Read more about Digital Schoolhouse on its website here
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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.
