The following is the full text of NACE's 12/19/2018 press release

The National Association of Collegiate Esports will once again team up with Hi-Rez Studios to bring esports opportunities to college students. For the Spring 2019 semester, NACE and Hi-Rez will be holding a series of online competitions for title games SMITE and Paladins. These tournaments will be called the NACE 2019 Gem Cup for SMITE and the NACE 2019 Crystal Cup for Paladins.

Registration is open to both NACE member and non-member collegiate institutions. Registration for both tournaments will begin on January 1, 2019 and run through January 31, 2019. Competitions will begin on Saturday, February 2, 2019. All team registrations and tournament administration will happen via the Toornament platform.

"We are thrilled to continue our partnership with NACE to support varsity college esports", said Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios COO.  "The fall 2018 NACE Championship for SMITE and Paladins awarded $100,000 in cumulative scholarship awards, and this Spring competition should expose even more universities to competitive play ahead of a fall 2019 Championship."

Further details for both tournaments are as follows:

• Each team will have one match per week, occurring at 6:00 PM CT
• 32 team bracket with a double elimination format
• Seeding will be based on placement in the NACE 2018 Championships
• Regular matches will be Best of Three (Bo3)
• Finals matches will be Best of Five (Bo5)
• Winning teams will receive in-game currency in the form of Crystals for Paladins and Gems for SMITE
• First place receives 7,000 Crystals/Gems per player
• Second place receives 3,000 Crystals/Gems per player
• Third and fourth places receive 1,200 Crystals/Gems per player
• Fifth through eighth places receive 400 Crystals/Gems per player

Other match rules and procedures will be similar to the NACE Championships held during Fall 2018. Reporting of match results will also happen on the Toornament platform.

2019 NACE Gem Cup Registration: https://bit.ly/2OszH3h

2019 NACE Crystal Cup Registration: https://bit.ly/2MyL7lj