The Gayming Awards will return for its second year, with Twitch on board as long-term presenting sponsor.
Launched in 2021, the awards set out to celebrate diversity and inclusivity within games and interactive media, recognising game developers, publishers and industry individuals.
The Gayming Awards is billed as ‘the world’s first and only award ceremony celebrating all that is great about LGBTQIA+ video gaming’. It’s an initiative from Gayming Magazine, an online publication which launched in 2019 in the UK.
The next event will take place in London in April 2022, with Twitch exclusively broadcasting it to a global audience. An expanded list of award categories will be announced in October.
Xbox, EA, Green Man Gaming, and Hangar 13/2K are renewing their sponsorship of the event, as it shifts away from its online roots, while Devolver Digital, Marvelous Europe and Space Ape are among the new sponsors who have signed on for the next show.
Supporters of the event also include Out Making Games, Ukie, London Games Festival and the German Games Industry Association.
“The LGBTQIA+ community makes an unprecedented and invaluable contribution to the video game landscape and we are beyond thrilled to partner with the Gayming Awards to both celebrate and recognise this.”
Matt Webster, Twitch
The digital-only inaugural awards were watched by over 150,000 unique viewers around the world, making it the largest LGBTQIA+ event on Twitch last year.
“I’m delighted and honoured to be able to bring back the Gayming Awards for a second year,” said Robin Gray, founder of Gayming Magazine, the world’s first LGBTQ+ online gaming publication that created the Gayming Awards initiative.
“We were blown away by the amount of support year one got both by fans and sponsors, it really shows the value in an awards show dedicated to queer excellence in video games.”
“The LGBTQIA+ community makes an unprecedented and invaluable contribution to the video game landscape and we are beyond thrilled to partner with the Gayming Awards to both celebrate and recognise this,” added Matt Webster, senior director of marketing for EMEA at Twitch.
“We can’t wait to collaborate closely over the coming months and make next year’s event even more successful, both in person and live on Twitch.”
Nominations will open later this year.
There’s more info at gaymingmag.com/awards-2021/
Further reading: Celebrating Pride Month 2021: UK & Ireland esports personalities share their view on LGBTQIA+ issues and representation within the industry
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.
