The Esports Awards 2022 winners
by Brian Bencomo
It’s the end of the year which means it’s awards season! Last week, The Game Awards recognized the best in esports in five categories. This week, The Esports Awards honored winners in over 30 categories. Nerd Street has been covering esports all year, so last month, we took a closer look at the nominees in seven of the categories involving players, teams, coaches and organizations.
The big winner at the 2022 Esports Awards was VALORANT. Not only did VALORANT win Game of the Year (VALORANT also won Esports Game of the Year at The Game Awards), a VALORANT team won Team of the Year and a VALORANT caster won Caster of the Year. Riot Games, the makers of VALORANT, also were big winners. In addition to VALORANT winning Game of the Year, Riot was named Publisher of the Year and Broadcast/Production Team of the Year.
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Among esports teams, Natus Vincere took home multiple prizes with Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev winning PC Player of the Year and Andrii "B1ad3" Horodenskyi winning Coach of the Year. The last and arguably most prestigious award of the night, for Organization of the Year, went to OpTic Gaming. Nerd Street has been keeping track of the top esports organizations all year with monthly updates based on the latest tournament results, and OpTic are currently on top as the year comes to a close.
With The Esports Awards now over, here’s a listing of who took home the top honors this year.
Supporting Service of the Year: Esports Engine
Collegiate Program of the Year: University of Hawaii
Hardware Provider of the Year: Logitech G
Journalist of the Year: Ashley Kang
Ashley Kang has been covering League of Legends, in particular the Korean scene, for Korizon Esports. Photo credit: Michal Konkol / Riot Games
Coverage Platform of the Year: Dexerto
Content Group of the Year: S8ul Esports
Content Creator of the Year: Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma
Content Series of the Year: Players (Paramount+)
Creative Team of the Year: LOUD
VALORANT won Game of the Year at The Esports Awards just a few days after winning Esports Game of the Year at The Game Awards. Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
Game of the Year: VALORANT
Mobile Game of the Year: PUBG Mobile
Personality of the Year: Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag
Streamer of the Year: Ibai “Ibai” Llanos
Team of the Year: LOUD (VALORANT)
Organization of the Year: OpTic Gaming
OpTic Gaming won championships in multiple esports this year. Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
Play of the Year: Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
Coach of the Year: Andrii "B1ad3" Horodenskyi (NAVI, CS:GO)
PC Rookie of the Year: Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov (G2 Esports, CS:GO)
PC Player of the Year: Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev (NAVI, CS:GO)
Controller Rookie of the Year: Enzo "Seikoo" Grondein (Team BDS, Rocket League)
This year, FormaL became one of the few players to win a championship in multiple esports. Photo credit: HCS
Controller Player of the Year: Matthew “FormaL” Piper (OpTic Gaming, Halo)
Mobile Player of the Year: Ceng “Order” Zehai (Nova Esports, PUBG Mobile)
Host of the Year: James “Dash” Patterson
Desk Analyst of the Year: Jessica “JessGOAT” Bolden
Play-by-Play Caster of the Year: Lauren “Pansy” Scott
Pansy has been the lead voice of the VALORANT Champions Tour’s international events. Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
Color Caster of the Year: Andy "Bravo" Dudynsky
Apparel of the Year: 100 Thieves
Cosplay of the Year: Kinpatsu Cosplay
Creative of the Year: Christian Skimmeland
Creative Piece of the Year: The Bellhop | Gucci Gaming Academy
Photograph of the Year: Colin Young-Wolff
Capturing iconic moments is what separates great photographers, and Colin Young-Wolf did just that in snapping the moment that a concerned Faker looked over toward his sobbing teammate after losing League of Legends Worlds. Photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
Collegiate Ambassador of the Year: Christine Fan
Commercial Partner of the Year: Verizon
Publisher of the Year: Riot Games
Broadcast/Production Team of the Year: Riot Games
Lead photo credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
