Esports Woman of the Year shortlist revealed

Dom Sacco, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 17/06/2025

The nominees for this year’s MCV’s Women in Games Awards have been announced, and there are six people shortlisted in the Esports Woman of the Year category.
This shortlist includes ESL’s Heather “Naysayerz” Dower and Caroline Oakes, as well as tournament manager Jasmine “Veracity” Kanuga – who is up for an award for the second year in a row – among others.
The full shortlist is as follows:

• Heather Dower, marketing & communications manager, ESL
• Mary Antieul, senior partnerships and esports manager, BELONG (GAME)
• Jasmine Kanuga, esports tournament manager, Multiplay/ ESL/ Dreamhack
• Caroline Oakes, business development, ESL
• Kirsty Endfield, founder, Swipe Right PR
• Yvonne Hobden, consumer marketing lead at HP UK, Omen

The MCV Women in Games Awards return for the fourth year in a row, and will take place on May 11th 2018.
“We’re really happy to be able to again celebrate amazing talent in the UK games industry,” read a statement on the announcement post. “Congratulations to all of our wonderful nominees.”
Last year’s ‘Esports Contender’ award was won by Veronique Lallier, global VP of marketing and EU general manager at Hi-Rez Studios, developer of games such as SMITE and Paladins.
They’re one of a growing list of awards ceremonies that involve esports, from the Esports Industry Awards (now known as the Esports Awards) to the recently announced Games Media Brit List.
Some plonkers have even decided to launch the UK Esports Awards.
Speaking of which, there are the 16 categories for those new awards – why not get your nominations in for them now?

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Dom Sacco, Senior Editor

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He has almost two decades of experience in journalism, and left Esports News UK in June 2025. 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 also previously worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation.

All Posts By Dom Sacco