British talent recognised at Esports Industry Awards

Dominic Sacco

16 min read | 14 Nov 2017

The 2017 Now TV Esports Industry Awards took place in London on November 13th, highlighting an array of talented individuals and brands across the industry.

Britain was well-recognised at the awards, with winners including Esports Journalist of the Year Duncan “Thorin” Shields, Esports Photographer of the Year Joe Brady, Esports Broadcaster of the Year Alex “Machine” Richardson and UK Esports Player of the Year Spencer “Gorilla” Ealing (pictured, photo by Matt Crossick), who is the current FIFA Interactive World Cup champion.

View image on Twitter

Thorin@Thooorin

One more for the bad guy

5,231

9:41 PM – Nov 13, 2017

383 people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy

<blockquoteclass=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”></blockquoteclass=”twitter-tweet”>

That’s not to mention other British finalists, from journalists Ollie Ring and Richard Lewis and Mike Kent, to videographers Rhys Rasmussen, Lewis Farley, Tom Newman and Lucas Pasiut, FIFA player Shaun xShellzz” Springette, broadcaster Owen “ODPixel” Davies, esports personality Ryan Hart and those up for the Unsung Hero award: UK CSGO admin Jasmine Kanuga, streamer Adam “b0aty” Lyne, ESL UK product manager Jacob Harrison and more.

Christopher “Sacriel” Ball and Joshua “steel” Nissan were also up for Streamer of the Year.

Elsewhere, Riot Games’ head of UK publishing Mark Cox picked up the award for Publisher of the Year, on behalf of Riot, while Richard Lewis received the Game of the Year Award for CSGO on behalf of Valve.

Esportspedia founder Megan “RheingoldRiver” Cutrofello (Unsung Hero of the Year) and esports presenter Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere (Personality of the Year) become the first women to scoop Esports Industry Awards.

British hosting talent Julia Hardy, Nicki Shields, OJ Borg and Adam Savage presented the ceremony.

Tom Mercey, director and co-founder of the Esports Industry Awards, said: “Global recognition and awareness of esports has absolutely exploded over the last 12 months and that has been reflected in the amazing support we’ve had for our awards this year.

“We created the awards to celebrate everyone who contributes to making esports such a global phenomenon and we’re thrilled to have been joined by so many leading lights of the industry this year as well as celebrities from the world of music, film and TV.”

The winners in full

Esports Breakthrough Game of the Year – PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

Esports Commercial Partner of the Year in association with Gamesindustry.biz – G-FUEL

Esports Coverage Website of the Year in association with Sizzle – ESPN Esports

Esports Game of the Year in association with Twitch – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Esports Journalist of the Year – Duncan “Thorin” Shields

Esports Photographer of the Year in association with Snugg – Joe Brady

Esports Publisher of the Year – Riot Games

Esports Hardware Provider of the Year – Intel

Esports Videographer of the Year – Davis ”OpTic Hitch” Edwards

Streamer of the Year – Dr.Disrespect

Streaming Platform of the Year – Twitch

Esports Broadcaster of the Year – Alex ‘Machine’ Richardson

Esports Console Player of the Year in association with Scuf Gaming – Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper

Esports Live Event of the Year in association with Thomas Lyte – League of Legends World Championship (RIOT)

Esports PC Player of the Year – Amer ‘Miracle-‘ Barqawi

Esports Personality of the Year in association with NOW TV – Eefje ‘Sjokz’ Depoortere

Esports Rookie of the Year (Console) in association with Simba – Victor ‘Punk’ Woodley

Esports Rookie of the Year (PC) in association with Simba – Abay ‘HObbit’ Khassenov

Esports Team of the Year – OpTic Gaming

Esports Unsung Hero of the Year – Megan “RheingoldRiver” Cutrofello

UK Esports Player of the Year in association with L’Oreal Men Expert – Spencer “Gorilla” Ealing

Esports Play of the Year – Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper

British Esports Association at the Awards

We attended the awards and would like to congratulate all the finalists and winners on the night.

Here’s a few pics of some of us at the awards:

Above (left to right): Ukie COO Dan Wood, Staffordshire University’s associate professor Bobbie Fletcher, British Esports vice chair Rt. Hon. Ed Vaizey, Staffordshire University’s associate dean for recruitment Rachel Gowers, British Esports chair Andy Payne OBE and founder Chester King

Above: Team Dignitas president Michael “ODEE” O’Dell (left) and British Esports vice chair Rt. Hon. Ed Vaizey (right)

British Esports vice chair Andy Payne OBE (left), Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe VP & MD for UK & Ireland Warwick Light (centre) and Ukie COO Dan Wood (right)

British Esports advisory board member Heather “Naysayerz” Dower and content director Dominic Sacco

Activision’s Ian Mattingly (left) and British Esports founder Chester King (right)

Follow the British Esports Association on Twitter for more updates