Empire Announces the 2021 Cyberspace Season
Apply Now to Compete at #2021Empire
The Earth has made a full rotation around the sun since we all began meeting in cyberspace (that is to say, in Zoom meeting rooms). With that comes a brand new frontier for Empire, and we are so excited for you to join us!
You've come to expect Empire's fall season to revolve around cities: New York, Chicago, Atlanta. This year, things will look a little bit different, as we meet not in a city, but in Cyberspace.
It’s time to suit up and grab your freeze-dried ice cream, because we’re lifting off soon!
Why Online?
Like all of you, we are so grateful that we can finally see a light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. But we're not there yet, with cases surging in parts of the country and the world. In-person Empire competitions involve out-of-state and out-of-country travel with students sharing hotel rooms, which still may not be possible for some schools this fall. That, plus the general uncertainty surrounding the state of the virus in the coming months, has led us to the decision to host our competitions online again for the 2021 Season.
"We'll really miss seeing everyone in person—this announcement hurts," said Executive Director, Justin Matarrese. "But we're going to focus our energy on gratitude, not sadness; we're so grateful we have cyberspace to keep us learning and connected.”
We expect to be back in person in 2022 but, even then, we know Empire Online is here to stay. We anticipate hosting both virtual and in-person options in the future.
So, what will the Cyberspace Season look like?
Empire will host two online competitions this fall:
Empire Orbit: The Path to Victory
September 23-27, 2021
Empire YOU Format
Empire Galaxy: Battle of the Universe
October 28 - November 1, 2021
Empire ONE Format
To refresh, Empire YOU means you are presenting separately from your teammates, whereas Empire ONE means your team is together in one room presenting. The latter gives you more of a traditional mock trial feel with an entire team together in their virtual courtroom, whereas the former allows you to compete from anywhere in the galaxy (assuming, of course, that there’s good internet access).
When we created Empire Online, we wanted to prioritize uniformity and fairness—it wouldn’t be fair if one team was safely within the atmosphere and the other was floating around in zero gravity. So, whichever format you choose, we will provide you with guidelines for how to present in virtual court in the State of Empirion. In Empire One, we take it ONE step further (pun intended): we tell you how to set up your virtual courtroom and give you A/V equipment to help you stream!
Schedule
We’re taking an unconventional approach to scheduling, but if we’re being honest, what about a competition called Orbit or Galaxy is conventional?
We’re sharing a date range, but not setting an exact schedule right now.
Why?
Well, in cyberspace, we can have people competing from anywhere in the universe—California to Maryland, Toronto to Seoul. (Anyone know a team on Mars that might want to apply?) Indeed, last year’s Empire Online field consisted of teams from 4 countries. We want to give teams from everywhere on the globe the opportunity to compete, so the exact schedule—factoring in the time zones for all competing teams—will be released on July 1st.
We can’t wait to launch this new and exciting journey with our Empire Family.
Apply & Register
For our returning Empire Family, and we know there are lots of you, we want to highlight some changes to the application process:
You only need to submit a single team application, regardless of how many teams you’d like to field in 2021 Cyberspace;
We’re using a Google Form this year because we just think Google is awesome and simple to use, so make sure you draft / collect your team’s essay responses before opening the application;
The application fee is back, so please make sure you’re prepared to pay $50 per team per competition;
The scholarship application is a separate Google Form;
If your team application is approved, you’ll have two weeks to submit a $500 deposit;
If the schedule released on July 1 no longer works for your team, you have until July 15 to withdraw without penalty (meaning, your deposit will be refunded);
Empire ONE, including A/V equipment, is $1,750. Empire YOU is $1,250.
Competed in ONE last year? Great! We can apply a $250 credit to your registration for the A/V equipment.
Who’s ready to join us in cyberspace?
Applications are NOW OPEN.