Annually beginning in 2021, the DePaul Esports community comes together to celebrate the accomplishments from the past year and recognize students for their contributions to teams and communities. Three awards are distributed- the Outstanding Student Leader Award, Exemplary Community Member, and MVP.
Outstanding Student Leader Awards are given to students who go above and beyond in their contributions to the Esports Community. The Exemplary Community Member and MVP awards are voted on by the peers of students in a respective title or community. The MVP Award is given out per team and is awarded to a player who’s devoted time, effort, and skill to help the team achieve new heights. The Exemplary Community Member Award is per-game title and is awarded to someone who significantly contributed to their community to help move it forward.
You can find the most recent award recipients below and the 2021-2022 award recipients here.
2022-2023 Award Recipients
Game: Beat Saber
MVP: Sean Slowik (Right)
Outstanding Community Member: Madison Bosa (Second from left)
Notes: The beat saber team stands out as being our only competitive VR team and they compete under the most unique circumstances. This competitive season, our Beat Saber team set their best personal record by going 2-3 in their regular season. MVP Sean averaged scores ranging in the top 40-50 in worldwide competition.
Game: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Varsity MVP: Sachit Patel (Back left)
Junior Varsity MVP: Rory Desmond (Front left)
Outstanding Community Member: Sam Steiner (Back right)
Notes: The Smash Ultimate team was one of the most active and competitive teams this season. The Varsity team set a school and league record, dropping zero matches during their competitive season until the season finale. Additionally, the team ran several successful tournaments throughout the school year averaging 80 attendees, at their tournament series, The DeSmash Smashfests.
Game: Splatoon
Varsity MVP: Seraphina Liu (Front left)
Junior Varsity MVP: Mikhail Baskakovas
Academy MVP: Spencer Harrigan (Front second from left)
Outstanding Community Member: Destiny Astorga (Front right)
Notes: Splatoon has quickly become one of the biggest and most welcoming communities inside DePaul Esports. Splatoon's JV Team (The Scarlet Scrimblers) coined the term, "Scarlet Sweep" as they successfully made it through more than half of their season without a loss.
Game: Halo
Varsity MVP: Jack Leuck (Center)
Junior Varsity MVP: Anthony Ramirez
Outstanding Community Member: Jesus Ocampo (Pictured on smartphone)
Notes: Another one of our newest teams, the Halo team competed in several different leagues throughout our competitive season. They quickly became one of closest teams and are a ton of fun to be around both in and out of competition. Despite a couple different roster changes this team was able to overcome whatever bumps they came across on their first year journey as a team, and were able to adapt and compete with one another.
Game: Call of Duty
Varsity MVP: Isaiah Montoya
Outstanding Community Member: Jason Montano
Notes: Call of Duty had a roller coaster of a year. From not qualifying in the initial stages of the CCL to immediately making upset after upset in the gauntlet that was the Last Chance Qualifier. While having only 5% of viewers predicting them to qualify through the LCQ, DPU CoD showed resilience and passion at every step of the way, and won their playoff spot through the LCQ, proving every doubter wrong as they so often do.
Game: Rainbow Six Siege
Varsity MVP: Ricky Soto (Center)
Outstanding Community Member: Aly Mieczkowski (Second from left)
Notes: For the first time in 4 years, our Rainbow 6 team made the CR6 playoffs! Despite running into several issues with league operations and roster changes, the team took their challenges in strides and performed amazingly well. After such a successful year it's exciting to see how this team will continue to grow next year.
Game: Overwatch
Varsity MVP: Ryan Sorboro
Junior Varsity MVP: Gabriel Kahn (Second row, second from right)
Academy MVP: Caleb Capuli
Outstanding Community Member: Ava Berry (Front left)
Notes: Overwatch had an incredibly successful season both in the EGF competitive league and the OWCC league. Overall, the varsity team ended up positive in wins. The team also placed 3rd in the Battle of the midwest. We’re looking forward to another great year of this passionate team in the 2023-24 season!
Game: Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Varsity MVP: Daniils Nazarovs
Outstanding Community Member: Angel Rivera
Notes: The Counter Strike team saw their final year of competition in Global Offensive end well, with a strong showing in EGF, despite a series of role changes throughout the year. As one of DePaul’s most decorated and storied teams, they're looking to make waves in CS2 this fall.
Game: Rocket League
Varsity MVP: Ostap Dzoba (Center)
Junior Varsity MVP: Andrew White (Second from right)
Academy MVP: Mahin Punit Karani (Third from right)
Outstanding Community Member: Layne Norris (Second from right)
Notes: Rocket League had an overall very successful season between their three leagues that they compete in. The varsity team qualified at EGF and ended up placing third place overall. The JV roster also had a successful season that they finished by placing second at Seton Hall's yearly tournament.
Game: Apex Legends
Varsity Co-MVP: Kendryck Cotton (Center)
Varsity Co-MVP: George Casales
Outstanding Community Member: David Tlatenchi (Right)
Notes: Apex Legends is another new addition to the DePaul Esports family. Despite being new and limited in terms of leagues, the APEX team performed amazingly well and placed 9th overall in their league tournament. We are excited to see this team continue to grow and continue to acclimate in further competition.
Game: League of Legends
Varsity MVP: Joel Alvarez
Junior Varsity MVP: Joyce Cui
Academy Blue MVP: Alonso Guerrero
Academy Red MVP: Joseph Kim
Academy White MVP: Matthew Tan
Outstanding Community Member: Jason Saab
Notes: League of Legends has grown to form one of the largest communities inside of DePaul Esports. Their community holds amazing weekly events, and a welcoming and func community. The League of Legends team won gold medals in their EGF league in fall, and recently won a Silver medal in EGF finals in Indiana.
Game: Rocket League
Blue MVP: Kevin Donnelly (Left)
Black/White Varsity MVP: Eli Remtula (Right)
Academy MVP: Brylle Abad
Outstanding Community Member: Anni Newton
Notes: After a year of roster changes, abrupt substitutions, and scheduling conflicts, the VALORANT team made the most of a year filled with complications resulting in multiple undefeated regular season NACE runs, 3 top 4 finishes, and a finals appearance, in addition to Varsity's combined efforts to finish 3rd overall in EGF standings, fielding two completely different rosters throughout the year.
Outstanding Service Award Winners:
David Tlatenchi (Right)
Layne Norris (Center)
Bobby Nieves (Left)
Our Outstanding Service Award winners went above and beyond, and made DePaul Esports the special place it has become, fostering new communities, and creating opportunities for members to have the best experience possible throughout the school year both in and out of competition. We’re so grateful to have them as a part of our community!
Outstanding Student Leader:
Peyton Gatza (Second from left)
Peyton led the way in his time at DePaul Esports within the Overwatch community, as a leader for both the team and the greater program, he helped make DePaul Overwatch such a warm and welcoming group, going out of his way to continually make the environment at DePaul Esports the best it could be. There was no one more fitting for this award than Peyton, and we hope to see him continue to flourish as a community leader in future endeavors!
Thank you
Thank you for an amazing year of competition and community at DePaul Esports, and a huge congratulations to all our graduating seniors in the class of 2023. We can’t wait to see you next school year, and hope you join us for another year of action and fun in the DePaul Esports community!