Esports Industry Awards 2017 announce categories

The Esports Industry Awards have returned for a second year, after a successful 2016 debut. Growing from 18 categories to 21 this time around. Public nominations for the awards are split between now and June, with the awards show being set for November 13th.

With Now TV returning as the title sponsor, the awards are setting up in a five-step staging. Kicking off with the nominations, which are open now, they’ll then move onto announcing the finalists. Once the finalists have been revealed the public will get a say on who they believe should win each award, before the panel sits down and gives their final decision. After that, it’s all a big secret until November 13th at The Brewery in London.

Esports Industry Awards (2016 shot)
Last year’s Esports Industry Awards, with this year set to be a larger event (source)

The 13 person panel are a wide range of esports personalities and figures, including Paul “ReDeYe” Chaloner, Ducan “Thorin” Shields, Team Dignitas founder Michael “ODEE” O’Dell and Twitch’s Director of Partnerships Chris Mead.

The fully fledged list of awards are:

Esports Journalist of the Year Esports Photographer of the Year
Esports Coverage Website of the Year Esports Hardware Provider of the Year
Esports Breakthrough Game of the Year Esports Commercial Partner of the Year
Streaming Platform of the Year Esports Publisher of the Year
Streamer of the Year Esports Game of the Year
Esports Videographer of the Year UK Esports Player of the Year
Esports Rookie of the Year (PC) Esports Rookie of the Year (Console)
Esports Live Event of the Year Esports Team of the Year
Console Player of the Year PC Player of the Year
Esports Personality of the Year Esports Play of the Year
Esports Unsung Hero of the Year  

Notably missing from this list is last year’s Esports Broadcaster of the Year, which was brought up during the launch show. Possibly temporarily removed until they decide on the name (mentions of it being cleared up towards Caster/Host of the Year), that would bring the awards to the previously announced number of 22.

The new awards categories are the Unsung Hero of the Year and and Videographer of the year.

Nominations for the first 11 awards are open now, with the nominations for the final set of awards opening in June.

Esports Insider says: One of the proper dedicated events shows for esports is back, and with new awards to focus on a wider range of people in the industry. One to focus on will be the Unsung Hero award, and the organiser should prepare themselves for a flood of nominations for the admins and support staff of the industry. Also, they’ve corrected their spelling – Hallelujah.