S2 Games is proud to announce that its highly anticipated upcoming title, Heroes of Newerth (HoN), was recently chosen as the Official International Game for what will be the world’s largest digital entertainment and e-sports event of all time, The Digital Youth Award. The announcement was made at this year’s DreamHack Winter (the largest LAN-based gaming tournament in the world) in Jönköping, Sweden. Despite still being in closed beta, the increasingly popular title was chosen for the program, which begins in early January 2010 and runs through March 2011.

The Digital Youth Award (DYA) 2010 Program will be conducted via a series of qualifying contests and competitions, held at various locations throughout the world. Its main goal is to encourage youth cultural exchange through digital media and interactive entertainment, and to promote the value of creativity, culture, friendship, education and unity. The top participants will be flown to Shanghai, China where they will compete with other international contestants at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo. After the World Expo, the contestants will travel to Sweden to participate in DreamHack Summer and DreamHack Winter. The competition finals will be March 12-14, 2011 at DreamHack Arctic, in Sweden at the Ice Hotel.

“S2 Games is proud to have been chosen to take part in the Digital Youth Award Program,” said Marc DeForest, CEO and Founder, S2 Games. “This type of global event is new and, potentially, groundbreaking for the gaming industry. To have Heroes of Newerth selected from all the potential candidates is a huge honor and one we hope our community will embrace.”

The Digital Youth Award program was originally conceptualized by newly formed 3K Entertainment, a joint venture between The CPL, the pioneer of the digital sports industry, and DreamHack, the world largest digital festival. The program was embraced and sanctioned by multiple governmental and private companies. With the support of these prestigious groups, the DYA has the potential to be the world’s most influential digital cultural exchange program and the most significant digital entertainment and e-sports event of all time.

“The heart of this project is community and we knew Heroes of Newerth would be the best fit for the role of international title because, already, it has a massive community following that S2 Games is supporting wholeheartedly – and it’s still in closed beta,” said Scott Valencia, CEO of the CPL. “HoN is also a fiercely competitive game, which is a key component of building a lasting game community. The fact that HoN has already sparked wide international attention is just one more reason that it aligns perfectly with the goal of the DYA - to stimulate and increase friendship, understanding, and cultural exchange across all borders.”