
Photo Source: Blizzard
Blizzard announced the Battle.net World Championship, which will take place later this year, to be the culmination of more than 30 Starcraft 2-related tournaments run by Blizzard and other tournament organizers.
These set of 30+ tournaments, which will be known collectively as the Starcraft 2 World Championship Series, will be hosted by Blizzard to identify a "true global champion," as players enter a grassroots type competition structure to qualify for their representative countries.
"The National Championships are designed to allow local heroes to rise to the top and be recognized in their country," Blizzard announced on their site. "The top finishers at each National Championship will earn spots at their continental Finals events, which will be an all-out brawl between neighboring countries to decide who will represent their continent at the Battle.net World Championship."

Photo Source: Blizzard
The structure of the competition will start at a grassroots, country-based open qualifiers that will eventually build up to each respective continents finals. The winners of those will be invited to participate in the global-scale tournament later on in the year.
Blizzard announced some basics about the series in their list of FAQs. Specifically, nationality will be defined by country of citizenship, each tournament will be a best-of-3 double elimination format, and everyone must qualify.
Blizzard has yet to release dates or prize pools of the competitions. Stay tuned to GGnet to keep up to date about the Starcraft 2 World Championship Series.
Source: Blizzard