Update (April 25th 2022): Rainbow Six Siege British esports caster Fluke has tonight won the Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports award, while games industry trade body Ukie has been awarded the Industry Diversity Award.
Original article (February 6th 2022): The Gayming Awards, ‘the first and only global award ceremony celebrating LGBTQ+ video gaming’, has tonight announced the nominees for the 2022 Awards live on the GaymingMag Twitch channel.
The Gayming Awards also revealed that as well as being streamed, the award show will be held in-person on April 25th 2022 at the Troxy Theatre in London.
It was previously announced that the Gayming Awards would be returning for 2022 with an in-person event in London, and that renowned host Julia Hardy would be hosting the event.
Now the nominations have been revealed, and they include a mix of talent, including those from the UK such as streamer Aimsey (up for the ‘LGBTQ Streamer of the Year’ award), Rainbow Six Siege caster Fluke (nominated for ‘Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports’), London Gaymers, UK games industry trade body Ukie’s ‘Raise the Game’ pledge (both of whom are up for the Industry Diversity Award) and more.
ReadySetBen, Sammy M Jay, and Shaaba and Jamie have also been nominated for the LGBTQ Streamer of the Year Award, while Luke_Boogie has been nominated for LGBTQ Streamer Rising Star.
Adventuring With Pride: Queer We Go Again (Jack Dixon) is up for the LGBTQ Tabletop Game Award.
“This year’s line-up of games and nominees is hugely iconic and inspiring. It’s awesome to see how much LGBTQ representation there is in games and in the industry.”
Robin Gray, Gayming Magazine
Following on from the success of last year’s inaugural awards, the categories for this year’s Gayming Awards have been expanded to include further elements of geek culture, by introducing awards for comic books, esports and tabletop gaming.
“This year’s line-up of games and nominees is hugely iconic and inspiring. It’s awesome to see how much LGBTQ representation there is in games and in the industry. I’m super excited to gather together and celebrate this amazing group of people and reveal the winners!” said Robin Gray, founder of Gayming Magazine.
Nominees, sponsors and industry notables will walk the red carpet, sponsored by video game publisher Devolver Digital, and after the show will keep the party going by celebrating queer video game excellence at the Electric Square/Keywords After Party.
The winners will celebrate on the night in the Cooler Master Winner’s Lounge, sponsored by leading PC hardware manufacturer, Cooler Master.
The Gayming Awards will feature an ‘in-person exclusive nerdy drag pre-show’ featuring London’s iconic Cybil’s House starring Cybil War, Aubrey Wodonga, RhyssPieces, Lolo Brow and Shardeazy Afrodesiak. Gaymers can snatch up a limited number of general admission tickets to come and see this exclusive show and experience the Gayming Awards live at the Troxy.
Nominees for the majority of award categories were decided upon by a global panel of LGBTQ+ judges.
The nominees for the Gayming Awards 2022 are as follows:
Game of the Year – Sponsored by PlayStation
● Boyfriend Dungeon – Kitfox Games
● Life is Strange True Colors – Deck Nine/Square Enix
● Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios
● Unpacking – Witch Beam/Humble Bundle
Gayming Magazine Readers’ Award – Sponsored by EA
● Boyfriend Dungeon – Kitfox Games
● Forza Horizon 5 – Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios
● Metroid Dread – MercurySteam/Nintendo
● Resident Evil Village – Capcom
● Sable – Shedworks/Raw Fury
● Shin Megami Tensei V – SEGA
● Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania – Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/SEGA
● The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles – Capcom
Industry Diversity Award – Sponsored by Hangar 13 & 2K Games
This award celebrates an organisation or person who has done a significant amount of work in promoting, developing and championing diversity in the global games industry.
● I Need Diverse Games
● London Gaymers
● Ukie’s #RaiseTheGame pledge
● Women in Games International
Authentic Representation Award – Sponsored by Marvelous Europe
This award recognises the best example of authentic LGBTQ representation in a game.
● Boyfriend Dungeon – Kitfox Games
● Life is Strange: True Colours – Deck Nine/Square Enix
● Unpacking – Witch Beam/Humble Bundle
● Unsighted – Studio Pixel Punk
Best LGBTQ Character Award – Sponsored by Rocksteady
This award recognises the best LGBTQ character (playable or significant NPC) in a game.
● Alex Chen, Life is Strange: True Colors – Deck Nine/Square Enix
● Helmut Fullbear & Bob Zanotto, Psychonauts 2 – Double Fine/Xbox Game Studios
● Steph Gingrich, Life is Strange: True Colors – Deck Nine/Square Enix
● Meredith Weiss, Lake – Gamious/Whitethorn Digital
Best LGBTQ Indie Game Award – Sponsored by Xbox
This award acknowledges the best indie game made by an independent developer which is focused on telling an LGBTQ story, or heavily features an LGBTQ element.
● A Year Of Spring – NPCKC
● Boyfriend Dungeon -Kitfox
● Lake – Gamious/Whitethorn Digital
● Sword of the Necromancer – Grimorio of Games
● Unpacking – Witch Beam/Humble Bundle
● When The Night Comes – Lunaris Games
LGBTQ Streamer of the Year Award – Sponsored by Twitch
This award is for the most popular LGBTQ streamer, as chosen by the watching public.
● Aimsey
● BlizzB3ar
● CriticalBard
● Eevoh
● Eret
● Nihachu
● ReadySetBen
● RekItRaven
● Sammy M Jay
● Shaaba and Jamie
● Shawn
● Toph
LGBTQ Streamer Rising Star Award – Sponsored by Twitch
This award is to celebrate the success of a rising star of LGBTQ streaming.
● ItsMeHollyy
● Cruuuunchy
● CoderGirlChan
● LuciaEverblack
● Luke_Boogie
● Trish Olson
Best LGBTQ Comic Book Moment – Sponsored by Square Enix London Mobile
This award recognises the best LGBTQ moment in a comic book in 2021.
● DC Pride #1 – DC Comics
● Killer Queens – David Booher / Dark Horse Comics
● The Pride Omnibus – ComiXology/Dark Horse Comics
● X-Factor #10 – Leah Williams / Marvel
LGBTQ Tabletop Game Award
This award recognises the best tabletop game with LGBTQ themes.
● Adventuring With Pride: Queer We Go Again – Jack Dixon
● The House Doesn’t Always Win – Michael ‘Wheels’ Whelan
● Thirsty Sword Lesbians – Evil Hat Productions
● Wanderhome – Possum Creek Games
Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports
This award recognises the contribution of a person or organisation who has done a significant amount of work in promoting, developing and championing diversity in esports.
● Amanda Stevens
● Cloud9 White Valorant Team
● Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association [CMSA]
● Emi “CaptainFluke” Donaldson
The Gayming Icon Award, sponsored by Facebook Gaming, recognises the important contribution of an LGBTQ figure to the global games industry and to the visibility of the LGBTQ community. The recipient of this award will be revealed exclusively ahead of the ceremony.
Voting is now open for the two public categories: LGBTQ Streamer of the Year, sponsored by Twitch, and Gayming Magazine Readers’ Award, sponsored by EA.
Votes can be cast via the Gayming Awards Website, with voting closing on February 22nd 2022. Tickets will also go on sale from Tuesday February 8th on the website.
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.
