The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) Foundation has announced a new scholarship for women and minority students competing on collegiate esports teams. ESA is the trade association of the U.S. video game industry.

The new esports scholarship is intended to increase diversity in esports and to balance inequities in esports scholarship recipients. 

Women represent 35 percent of esports game players, 30 percent of esports game watchers, and 20.3 percent of esports league viewers. Yet, they are largely absent in major esports leagues. In an industry that made over $1 billion in revenue in 2019, only one woman ranks in the 500 highest-earning esports players globally.

There are also documented racial inequities in esports. African-Americans are 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for only 19 percent of U.S. esports fans and 22 percent of “avid” esports fans. Yet again, there are few African Americans in the professional ranks.

These inequities can be seen on the collegiate level as well. Over $16 million in esports college scholarships have been awarded since 2016, but women and minorities account for a small percentage of recipients. The ESA Foundation’s new scholarship could help mend the divide by encouraging esports diversity. 

The announcement of the new esports scholarship comes as the ESA Foundation opens its scholarship program for 2020. 

The esports scholarship is one of three scholarships now offered by the ESA Foundation. The Computer and Video Game Arts Scholarship, awarded to women and minority students pursuing careers in video game design, has been awarded every year since 2007. 

Another scholarship, co-awarded by the ESA Foundation and Gay Gaming Professionals, recognizes service to the LGBTQ+ community, and was awarded for the first time in September 2019. 

Applications for all three scholarships will close on March 2. 

Applicants will be notified of the selection results by mid-June and funds will be disbursed by August.

The ESA Foundation has awarded nearly 400 scholarships since 2007.

“The ESA Foundation is devoted to empowering the next generation of video game creators and fostering an industry in which those creators reflect the players they’re making games for,” Anastasia Staten, the ESA Foundation’s executive director, said in a news release. “We’re excited to expand our scholarship offering this year to include underrepresented students passionate about esports, which has quickly become one of the most popular forms of entertainment. But it’s also important that aspiring game creators get to tell their unique stories in ever-more-creative ways.”