2025 HLTV Awards nominees include Banks, Freya, mezii and more

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Photo by Josip Brtan

Counter-Strike news platform HLTV has shared the full list of 2025 HLTV Awards nominees for its annual award show.

The HLTV Awards presented by 1xBet will take place in Belgrade, Serbia, streaming live on January 11th 2025 from 6pm CET for an evening which celebrates achievements within the competitive Counter-Strike community.

Split into community and panel award categories, the HLTV Awards will see the biggest names in the world of Counter-Strike vie for awards such as IGL of The Year, Coach of The Year, Creator of The Year and Event of The Year.

British nominees for this year include Vitality player William ‘mezii’ Merriman, who is up for Anchor of The Year, and Highlight of the Year, for this play (update, mezii wasn’t named a finalist for these two awards in the end):

3kliksphilip, who won Creator of the Year at the 2023 HLTV Awards, is in the running for the award again.

There are several Brits up for the Talent of the Year award, too, including Freya Spiers, James Banks (pictured, top, with his partner), JustHarry, HenryG, Hugo and Machine.

Other nominees include m0NESY, Alexandre ‘gAuLeS⁠’ Chiqueta and IEM Cologne 2024. The coveted HLTV Player of the Year Award will also be revealed on the night following a countdown of the year’s top twenty pros.

Community voting for Skin of The Year, Streamer of The Year, Creator of The Year, Event of The Year and Talent of The Year started on December 17th on the HLTV website and will end on December 24th at 22:59. The finalists will then be revealed on December 26th 2024, with the winners being shown alongside the rest of the awards on January 11th 2025.

The winners of the Panel Awards will be handpicked by industry representatives including leading broadcast talent, team executives and HLTV staff. Representative from G2, Vitality, Faze, Navi, Spirit, Mouz, Heroic, Virtus.pro, Liquid, The MongolZ, Eternal Fire, Astralis, Complexity, Furia, Falcons, Pain, Saw, BIG, MIBR and Cloud9 are among the panel members. The team representatives were invited to participate based on the top 20 point-earning teams on the HLTV ranking in 2024.

“We are so excited to share the list of nominees for what will be the fourth HLTV Awards. It’s been a landmark year of Counter-Strike and we are honoured to host an event where we can bring the industry and community together to celebrate and recognise this great community. It’s going to be a night to remember!”

Zvonimir Burazin, HLTV

The HLTV Awards will also see the induction of GeT_RiGhT, HeatoN, f0rest and Potti to the HLTV Hall of Fame presented by 1xBet. Each year HLTV inducts a handpicked selection of players and coaches to receive an award which recognises their long-term commitment to Counter-Strike.

At the awards, each inductee will receive a special Rolex featuring a Hall of Fame inscription.

Zvonimir Burazin, Head of Operations at HLTV, said: “We are so excited to share the list of nominees for what will be the fourth HLTV Awards. It’s been a landmark year of Counter-Strike and we are honoured to host an event where we can bring the industry and community together to celebrate and recognise this great community. It’s going to be a night to remember!”

Talent hosting the 2025 HLTV Awards

To announce the awards a plethora of Counter-Strike faces will take to the stage including the likes of Jarosław ‘pashaBiceps‘ Jarząbkowski, Richard ‘shox‘ Papillon, Kenny ‘kennyS‘ Schrub and Lucy ‘LucyLuce‘ Eastwood.

Talent for the evening will include Brit Freya ‘Freya‘ Spiers and Conner ‘Scrawny‘ Girvan as hosts, and dona and Brit Alex ‘Machine‘ Richardson as interviewers. Chad ‘SPUNJ‘ Burchill, Milan ‘Striker‘ Švejda and Zvonimir ‘Professeur‘ Burazin will also be providing insights and commentary.

We are not that far away from the HLTV Awards... so it's time to start making announcements 👀

Let's begin with our talent lineup for the next show

📢 Hosts:@FreyaSpiers @ScrawnyCG

🎤 Interviewers:@donacsgo @MACHINEgg

🧠 Panel:@SPUNJ @StrikerHLTVorg @Professeur_CS pic.twitter.com/ClkS2IUiba

— HLTV Awards (@HLTVawards) November 16, 2024

Full list of HLTV Awards 2025 nominees

Community Awards

Skin of The Year

• AK-47 | Inheritance (Endrit)
• AWP | Chrome Cannon (Strenson)
• Glock-18 | Gold Toof (madpoly)
• M4A1-S | Black Lotus (moonfighter)
• M4A1-S | Vapor Wave (Blazer)
• MAC-10 | Saibā Oni (kioShimyo)
• SSG 08 | Rapid Transit (cimota)
• UMP-45 | Neo-Noir (Blazer)
• USP-S | Jawbreaker (Samolee)
• Zeus x27 | Olympus (apel8)

Streamer of The Year

• Eugene “⁠Aunkere⁠” Karyat
• Dima_wallhacks
• Erik “⁠fl0m⁠” Flom
• Luciano “⁠forg1⁠” Forgione
• Alexandre “⁠gAuLeS⁠” Chiqueta
• Piotr “⁠izak⁠” Skowyrski
• Costin “⁠jaxi⁠” Vrînceanu
• Mark “⁠ohnePixel⁠” Zimmermann
• Özgür “rootthegamer” Alagül
• Jake “⁠Stewie2K⁠” Yip

Creator of The Year

• 3kliksphilip
• Anomaly
• NadeKing
• NartOutHere
• Polex
• Shoke
• Sparkles
• Superstitum
• TheWarOwl
• Virre CS2

Event of The Year

• IEM Katowice 2024
• PGL Major Copenhagen 2024
• YaLLa Compass 2024
• BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024
• IEM Cologne 2024
• BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024
• Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024

Talent of The Year

• Freya “⁠Freya⁠” Spiers
• James “⁠BanKs⁠” Banks
• Harry “⁠JustHarry⁠” Russell
• Henry “⁠HenryG⁠” Greer
• Hugo “⁠Hugo⁠” Byron
• Mohan “⁠launders⁠” Govindasamy
• Alex “⁠Machine⁠” Richardson
• Jason “⁠moses⁠” O’Toole
• Jacob “⁠Pimp⁠” Winneche
• Conner “⁠Scrawny⁠” Girvan
• Chad “⁠SPUNJ⁠” Burchill
• Tres “⁠stunna⁠” Saranthus
• Janko “⁠YNk⁠” Paunović

Panel Award Nominees

IGL of The Year

• Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen
• Dan “apEX” Madesclaire
• Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren
• Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov
• Dzhami “Jame” Ali
• Finn “karrigan” Andersen
• Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski
• Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli
• Kamil “siuhy” Szkaradek
• Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski

Awper of The Year

• Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch
• Helvijs “broky” Saukants
• Nicolai “device” Reedtz
• Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli
• Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov
• Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov
• Ádám ”torzsi” Torzsás
• Ihor “w0nderful” Zhdanov
• Özgür “woxic” Eker
• Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut

Anchor of The Year

• Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy
• Shahar “flameZ” Shushan
• Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo
• Boris “magixx” Vorobiev
• Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa
• William “mezii” Merriman
• Ayush “mzinho” Batbold
• Keith “NAF” Markovic
• Robin “ropz” Kool
• Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia

Closer of The Year

• Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy
• Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin
• David “frozen” Čerňanský
• Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo
• Justinas “jL” Lekavicius
• Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato
• Keith “NAF” Markovic
• Guy “NertZ” Iluz
• Robin “ropz” Kool
• Lotan “Spinx” Giladi

Opener of The Year

• Danil “donk” Kryshkovets
• Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski
• Shahar “flameZ” Shushan
• Mihai “iM” Ivan
• Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa
• Nikola “NiKo” Kovač
• Munkhbold “Senzu” Azbayar
• Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken
• Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş
• Dorian “xertioN” Berman

Coach of The Year

• Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy
• Sezgin “Fabre” Kalaycı
• Sergey “hally” Shavaev
• Erdenedalai “maaRaa” Bayanbat
• Filip “NEO” Kubski
• Eetu “sAw” Saha
• Dennis “sycrone” Nielsen
• Tiaan “T.c” Coertzen
• Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas
• Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam

Highlight of The Year

• Donk – AK-47 1v5
• jL – Deagle + AK-47 ACE
• KSCERATO – ACE
• m0NESY – AWP 4K
• m0NESY – Scout 4K
• malbsMd – AK-47 1v3 ACE CLUTCH
• Mezii – AK-47 ACE
• NiKo – Deagle ACE
• Skullz – M4A1-S 1v4
• ZywOo – AWP 4K

2025 HLTV Awards finalists

Update (December 29th 2024): The full list of finalists for the HLTV Awards have since been announced.

Community Award Finalists:

Skin of The Year

• AK-47 | Inheritance (Endrit)
• M4A1-S | Black Lotus (moonfighter)
• Zeus x27 | Olympus (apel8)

Streamer of The Year

• Dima_wallhacks
• Erik “⁠fl0m⁠” Flom
• Mark “⁠ohnePixel⁠” Zimmermann

Creator of The Year

• 3kliksphilip
• NadeKing
• Virre CS2

Event of The Year

• IEM Katowice 2024
• PGL Major Copenhagen 2024
• Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024

Talent of The Year

• James “⁠BanKs⁠” Banks
• Conner “⁠Scrawny⁠” Girvan
• Chad “⁠SPUNJ⁠” Burchill

Panel Award Finalists:

IGL of The Year

• Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen
• Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov
• Finn “karrigan” Andersen

Awper of The Year

• Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov
• Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov
• Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut

Anchor of The Year

• Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy
• Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo
• Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia

Closer of The Year

• Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy
• Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo
• Justinas “jL” Lekavicius

Opener of The Year

• Danil “donk” Kryshkovets
• Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski
• Nikola “NiKo” Kovač

Coach of The Year

• Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy
• Sergey “hally” Shavaev
• Dennis “sycrone” Nielsen

Highlight of The Year

• Donk – AK-47 1v5
• jL – Deagle + AK-47 ACE
• NiKo – Deagle ACE

Finalists for the five remaining categories are decided by HLTV directly. These categories include:

Team of the Year

• G2
• Natus Vincere
• Team Spirit

Women’s Team of the Year

• Furia
• Imperial
• Navi Javelins

Rookie of the Year

• Danil “donk” Kryshkovets
• Mario “malbsMd” Samayoa
• Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia

Women’s Player of the Year

• Ana “ANa” Dumbravă
• Victoria “tory” Kazieva
• Zainab ‘zAAz’ Turkie

Related article: Freya hosts Red Bull Counter-Strike documentary ‘Memories of CSGO – The Final Years’

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