The 2016 Esports News UK Awards

You might forget it sometimes, but beneath the memes and the drama lies an undercurrent of talent in the UK League of Legends scene.
Alphari, Maxlore, KaSing, Vedius, Toaster… just a brief list of people that have branched beyond the UK leagues and into paid positions across Europe.
We wanted to not only highlight some of the notable people who have made an impact in the UK League of Legends scene over the past year, but also to have a bit of fun at the same time.
There are four categories, each with ten awards (apart from the one-of-a-kinds category, which has five awards).
Note: While there is no actual ceremony or trophies or anything, if any of those below want to share their address with us via a Twitter DM we’ll happily post a little something out to you!
Another note: For some awards we’ve added links as context, for others we couldn’t as it would have needed a longer explanation. Helpful, we know.
Third note: If your name or org isn’t listed below, it doesn’t mean we don’t love you. This list is simply a list of people and orgs that impressed us or stood out in particular over the past year.
Note number four: This list article is extremely late. Blame Dom.
 

The Semi-Serious Awards Category

Recognising some of our top UK League of Legends talent…

• Play of the Year: Matthew “Bluebear” Thompson (for this)
• Most Improved: Neyas “Raizins” Guruswamy
• Veteran of the Year: Billy “Nutri” Wragg
• One to Watch: Matt “Deadly” Smith (pictured above)
• Most Consistent Player of the Year: Ashley “Rifty” Mayes
• Rebel of the Year: Jamie “Tundra” Duthie
• Team of the Year: MnM Gaming
• Casters Bromance of the Year: Ceirnan “Excoundrel” Lowe & Aaron “Sona” Chamberlain (watch)
• Coach Hair of the Year: Will “FrozenDawn” Burgess
• The ‘Proof That Not All UK League of Legends is Shit’ Award: Renegades Banditos/Misfits

The Not-So-Serious Awards Category

These awards are mainly just a bit of fun. Though many a true word is spoken in jest…

• Memer/Traitor of the Year: Ben “Draggles” Forbes (for this and this, pictured above)
• UK-Based Memer/Non-Traitor of the Year: Tom “Tridd” Underwood
• Grass of the Year: Mantas “Hadow” Sukevicius (for this / this)
• The Still Has Hair But Shouldn’t Award: Sasha Wood (for this)
• Drama of the Year: Last Remedy (for this and this)
• Analytical Media Expert of the Year: Josh “Jarge” Smith (context buried in this article here)
• Bad Banter of the Year Award: Brandon “Gashandslash” Marson (for this)
• The ‘If We Don’t Respond to ENUK Maybe They Will Go Away’ Award: Loughborough University (for this)
• Org Weirdly Writing About Another Org Award: Enclave (on Perilous)
• 1 bang @ LAN Award: Vince Clarke and Tom Villiers (context)

The One-Of-A-Kind Awards Category

Our own league of five legends that probably deserve their own category for either their unique personality, bizarre one-off moments or just good old je ne sais quoi…

• In-Game Voice of the Year: Alex “Synygy” Winton (for this and this)
• Fan of the Year: Ryan “Barnetto” Barnett (context here: ‘Fanning the Flames’)
• Banned Twitch Streamer With a Nose Job and a Car That Has a League of Legends Character On It Award: Gross Gore (pictured above)
• The Don’t Mess With Me On Social Media Award: Rachel “SonaBoner” Dean
• The Gary Kimmelman Award: Gary Kimmelman

The Not Quite League of Legends Awards Category

For everything else (some serious awards, some lighthearted, but almost nothing League of Legends related)…

• Overall UK Org of the Year (multiple games): Team EndPoint
• Overall UK Esports Hero (multiple games/areas): Adam “Blanks” Heath
• UK Org Deal of the Year: Dignitas going to 76ers
• ENUK’s Interview of the Year: Richard Lewis
• ENUK’s ‘We Didn’t Know It Was Bullshit, Honest’ Story of the Year: Man U in bidding war with Fnatic
• ENUK’s Weird Story of the Year: Streaker bundled off stage by ‘jedi’ at UK Hearthstone finals
• ENUK’s Video/Editor of the Year: Joekerism (and his Top UK Plays Montage)
• The Streamer That Somehow Got Away With It Award: Tom “Syndicate” Cassell (for this)
• Worst Esports Media Coverage of the Year: BBC (for this and this and this)
• LAN Team Name of the Year: TEAM JUSTICE FOR HARAMBE eSPORTS LEAGUE OF DANK BOIZ ON TOUR GAMING STATES OF AMERICA

 
Thanks for reading and being part of this embarrassing brilliant little scene.

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.