In just under two weeks The Brewery, London will host the inaugural Esports Industry Awards which will be “a celebration of those individuals, teams and companies that have contributed to the sector’s major growth in the past 12 months”.
Top players, journalists, photographers and gaming brands will be joined on the night by celebrities from the worlds of entertainment and sport, alongside professional cosplayers, the world’s most popular YouTubers plus both gaming and mainstream media.
The Esports Industry Awards, an independent venture between MBN Events and NewBay Media, has attracted partners including streaming service NOW TV as headline sponsor. More recently it has announced the sponsors for the singular awards. These are Domino’s (Streamer of the Year); Omen by HP (eSports Journalist of the Year); Snugg (eSports Photographer of the Year); Xbox/Windows Lock Up (PC Player and eSports Team of the Year); GinxTV (eSports Live Event of the Year) and Gillette (eSports Commercial Partner of the Year).
The whole event will be streamed live on the night across the globe thanks to livestream partner, Twitch and broadcast partner, Gfinity.
David Turner NOW TV’s Retail Marketing Controller, commented: “As the headline partner of the eSports Industry Awards, NOW TV would like to congratulate this year’s finalists and winners on their industry leading achievements. To help the winners celebrate, we will be giving each of them a NOW TV Sky Cinema Pass for a year and one for them to giveaway to their UK fanbase to share in the excitement.”
BBC Radio 1’s Julia Hardy and Channel Five’s Jason Bradbury will be hosting the event, which will see nominees vie for awards across 18 different categories. Winners in 15 of the categories will be chosen by an expert panel which includes respected personalities from the eSports world including Alan Brice, Christopher Mykles and David Turner; while eSports Journalist, eSports Game and eSports Photographer will be selected by the public in a vote powered by headline partner NOW TV.
Tom Mercey, an organiser of the Esports Industry Awards added: “Both the calibre of partners and the attendees we already have confirmed from music, television and sport are affirmation of eSports’ ever growing popularity and respect for all those who have been integral to this success.”
Esports Insider says: We’ll be reporting live from the event, and are looking forward to seeing who takes the various crowns. Many of them will be hotly contested, with the ‘best new esports title’ category one of those up for public vote. We anticipate it being a three way battle between Overwatch, Vainglory and Rocket League.
