The 2019 Esports Awards winners

Esports Stadium Arlington played host to this weekend’s 2019 Esports Awards. Hosted by Eefje “SJOKZ” Depoortere and “GOLDEN BOY” Alex Mendez, the awards saw some of the best in the industry be recognized for their talents and dedication over the past year. They were joined by Jess Brohard, Bil “Jump” Carter, Lottie Van Praag and “Hungrybox” Juan DeBiedma in sharing hosting duties.

The First Stateside Awards

This is the first time that the Esports Awards event takes place in the USA. The stadium was packed with esports personalities, streamers and journalists in tuxedos, apart from Sonicfox who wore his trademark costume. Thousands of viewers from 30 countries watched the live stream of the event on YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, and Twitter.

Mayor of Arlington, Jeff Williams, began the proceedings with a speech as a special guest of the event. He spoke of esports as a genuine sport and promised to promote it going forward. A video package was played showing senior citizens on television not agreeing to esports being a real sport or drawing spectators. This was followed up by the biggest esport moments of the year. 16-year-old Bugha winning the Fortnite World Cup, amongst other emotional moments proved those on TV wrong. He also presented the Streamer of the Year award to Dr. Disrespect.

Give em love with your Streamer of the Year, the now 2 time Esports Awards winner @drdisrespect#esportsawards pic.twitter.com/OeM7aR1nQn

— Esports Awards – LIVE NOW (@esportsawards) November 17, 2019

The Industry Awards

Richard Lewis won Esports Journalist of the Year and had some harsh words of criticism for mainstream media. He named Kotaku and Polygon, talking about how little they know about esports. Lewis spoke of them creating hit pieces on a streamer each year, trying to cancel the streamer so they can get one of their cronies into gatekeep the community. He also ridiculed how a certain journalist reported a CS:GO tournament as a Trump rally due to lack of fact-finding and sensationalist journalism. Lewis stressed his thanks for the journalists who are honest and truthful, and the ones trying to fact check and report the truth, condemning those who do not. This speech received the strongest reaction of the night, with most of the crowd giving him a standing ovation.

The only thing better than @RLewisReports speech was knowing i get to read twitter reactions the morning after.

— James Lampkin (@Kennigit) November 17, 2019

Fresh off of the 2019 World Championship, League of Legends won the Esports Game of the Year award. CS:GO came in second place, with Rainbow Six Siege taking third. HyperX won Esports Commercial Partner of the year, with Esports Coverage Website of the Year going to Dexerto. Intel took home the award for Hardware Provider of the Year. League of Legends publisher Riot Games also picked up an award as Esports Publisher of the Year. Loaded was given the award for Esports Supporting Agency of the Year.

Esports Pro Award Winners

Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf received two awards on the night. The winner of the Fortnite World Cup won PC Rookie of the Year and the PC Player of the Year. His mother joked that he could only access his enormous winnings from the world cup at the age of 30.

The Panels Choice award was given for the first time this year to Ryan Thompson. More good news for League of Legends fans released as the World Championship 2019 won the Esports Live Event of the Year award. GOLDEN BOY was awarded Esports Host of the Year. League of Legends team G2 Esports won Esports Team of the Year. Henry “Henry G” Greer won Esports Caster of the Year, Dominique “Sonicfox” Mclean took the Esports Console Player of the Year and Chris “Simp” Lehr won the Esports Console Rookie of the Year. Team Liquid added another award to their cabinet in the form of Esports Organization of the Year.

The one and only @Maven and @SCUFDunc announcing @SonicFox5000 as the winner of Esports Console Player of the Year in association with @ScufGaming #esportsawards pic.twitter.com/lDPDWDINb1

— Esports Awards – LIVE NOW (@esportsawards) November 17, 2019

Community Awards

Finally, in the Community Awards, Jemima “LittleJem” Puckett picked up Esports Cosplay of the Year award and became the first person in history to receive the award. Dr. Disrespect won Streamer of the Year with Craig “Mini Lad” Thompson winning an award for Content Creator of the Year. Esports Personality of the Year went to Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag. Esports Photographer of the Year was awarded to Stephanie Lindgren and Esports Videographer of the Year went to Logan Dodson of 100 Thieves.

2019’s Esports Awards was a booming event for esports. All forms of esports culture came together to highlight the biggest figures of the year. As the industry continues to grow, more individuals and companies will be worthy of awards. The 2020 Esports Awards is bound to be even more impressive.

Written by Navid Imtiaz