{"id":149601,"date":"2021-10-12T16:30:13","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T02:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=149601"},"modified":"2021-10-12T13:26:49","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T23:26:49","slug":"vote-for-uh-esports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/10\/12\/vote-for-uh-esports\/","title":{"rendered":"Vote for UH<\/abbr> esports as nation\u2019s best"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"people<\/p>\n

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa esports program is one of the top 10 best collegiate esports programs in the nation, and it could become No<\/abbr>. 1 with the help from the community. The public can vote for UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa on the Esports Awards website<\/a> until November 10. The winner, which will be determined by an esports panel of experts (75%) and public vote (25%), will be announced at the Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas on November 20. UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa esports representatives have also been invited to attend the in-person ceremony.<\/p>\n

UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa was nominated by its peers across the country as one of 10 finalists for the award. The program has experienced its best year since it began in 2019, earning national recognition for several of its teams, including winning its first collegiate tournament competing in the game Valorant; and becoming the first higher education institution to host Overwatch League regular season tournaments, playoffs and grand finals.<\/p>\n

“This past year has really shown that if we can put the resources and Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> community behind it, we can really make an impact and showcase that Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> esports is not just here to participate but we\u2019re here to do good things for our students,” said Kevin Nguyen<\/strong>, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa esports program assistant and spring 2019 communications graduate.<\/p>\n

UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa esports accomplishments<\/h2>\n

\"person<\/p>\n

The Valorant team won UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s first ever collegiate title in any esports game. In October 2021, UH<\/abbr> won the National Association of Collegiate Esports StarLeague in Valorant championship, going undefeated in the bracket tournament.<\/p>\n

The UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Overwatch team was crowned champions of United Gaming Clans season 14 (first team championship win in an amateur contest). Teams in League of Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, Super Smash Bros<\/abbr>. Ultimate and Rocket League are building on strong seasons and hoping to compete for playoff spots.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve been here since the program started back in 2019, and we were just one League of Legends team. We were really trying to figure out how to traverse in this space,” said Kason Padilla<\/strong>, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa esports lead project manager and spring 2020 communications graduate. “Now, the program really feels self-sufficient. If me, Kevin (Nguyen) and Sky Kauweloa<\/strong> weren\u2019t around, we really feel like the program would still be running perfectly by itself. We have a solid content team. We can run broadcasts whenever we want. All of our teams have so much interest in them and it\u2019s a well-oiled machine now.”<\/p>\n

Overwatch League host venue<\/h2>\n

UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa served as a host venue for the Overwatch League\u2019s summer tournaments, playoffs and grand finals. Several students enrolled in the School of Communications<\/a> esports internship course received valuable hands-on learning experience helping to run the league\u2019s events working directly with the league\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n

“Getting to meet the Overwatch League\u2019s amazing professionals was so crazy. It was an opportunity that I think myself and a lot of the other interns didn\u2019t think would ever happen,” said Alohi Tolentino<\/strong>, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa marketing student and esports content lead. “Being able to work with these open-minded individuals that were sharing their professional input and advice was really nice. I think the esports industry in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> is relatively new so being able to hear from seasoned professionals in the industry is really exciting because it inspired myself and my colleagues.”<\/p>\n

Visit the UH<\/abbr> esports team\u2019s Twitter<\/a> and Discord<\/a> pages. More stories on UH<\/abbr>\u2019s esports program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This program is an example of UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goals of Enhancing Student Success<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>) and Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), two of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n

—By Marc Arakaki<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> esports is nominated for national collegiate program of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[301,661,1405,1466,1467,911,741,660,9],"class_list":["post-149601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-college-of-social-sciences","tag-communications","tag-esports","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-program-recognition","tag-school-of-communications","tag-student-recognition","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t