Hello friends!
In this week’s roundup, LGBTQ+ esports talent shines at the Gayming Awards 2022, University of Birmingham Esports win the NSE’s VALORANT stay at home series, and Tenstar bid a fond farewell to several of their Rising Stars to Spanish esports giants Mad Lions.
This esports roundup shines a light on UK esports, in particular, what’s going on in the midlands. If you have an esports story that you would like us to feature, email mat@geekybrummie.com.
Quick Links
- LGBTQ+ Talent Shines at the Gayming Awards 2022
- Uni of Birmingham Win NSE’s VALORANT tournament
- TENSTAR Bid Farewell to VALORANT Roster
LGBTQ+ Talent Shines at the Gayming Awards 2022
Several esports personalities and related organisations were celebrated at The Gayming Awards held last week online and in-person on Tuesday 25th April.
The Gayming Awards is the first and only global award ceremony celebrating LGBTQ+ video gaming and queer geek culture. This is the second iteration of the awards held, and the first to take place in person at the Troxy in London, as well as streamed live on Twitch globally.
The awards featured 12 categories, expanded to include further elements of geek culture, introducing awards for Comic Books, Esports and Tabletop Gaming. It also featured 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.
Shining a light on LGBTQ+ in Esports
Among the awards was “Best LGBTQ Contribution to Esports Awards” which was won by British Caster Emi “CaptainFluke” Donaldson known for her stellar casting of Rainbow Six Siege including ESL Premiership and Challenger League. Emi won for her work promoting trans inclusion in esports. Fellow nominees for the awards also included Amanda Stevens, Cloud9 White Valorant Team, Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association.
Several esports-related organisations were also featured in other awards including Women in Games International and Ukies’s #RaiseTheGame pledge, which won the Industry Diversity Award.
About The Gayming Awards
Organised by Gayming Magazine and presented by Twitch, The Gayming Awards is the first and only global award ceremony celebrating LGBTQ+ video gaming and queer geek culture. The purpose of the awards is to celebrate diversity and inclusivity globally within games and interactive media, it was watched by over 320,000 live across Twitch and IGN.
Addressing the audience online and in person at the awards, founder of Gayming Magazine, The Gayming Awards, and local Brummie, Robin Gray said:
“Representation both in-game and in the industry is critically important now more than ever. As the LGBTQ community is being attacked, divided, and silenced, we owe it to the next generation of LGBTQ people to be seen in the games they love.”
“I am delighted we can bring us all together to lift each other up and celebrate queer excellence.”
20% of all ticket sales went to the It Gets Better Project to support its mission to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ youth around the globe.
You can watch the full awards above.
About Gayming Magazine
Gayming Magazine is a UK-based online LGBTQ video gaming magazine. They are the first video gaming website dedicated to the LGBTQ community. The site was launched in June 2019 with the aim of connecting the LGBTQ and video gaming communities and has launched virtual Pride events.
In 2021, the magazine hosted the world’s first LGBTQ+ gaming awards ceremony, Gayming Awards, with the most recent event having taken place in 2022. Other events upcoming include DIGIPRIDE 2022 from June to August across Twitch and Gayming LIVE which combines gaming and drag in Brooklyn, New York on 16th – 17th July.
Uni of Birmingham Win NSE’s VALORANT tournament
The University of Birmingham’s Birmingham Bulls Esports team has emerged victorious in the National Student Esports (NSE) VALORANT Stay at Home Series. Birmingham claimed victory over Swansea Academy Esports in a nail-biting 2-1 grand final.
The tournament featured 8 teams battling out for the championship title with Birmingham Bulls beating all 3 stages with 2-1 scores. Other teams included University of Swansea, Portsmouth and Bath taking part.
About the Stay At Home Series
The NSE Stay at Home Series comprises three cups across three popular esports titles, League of Legends and VALORANT each featuring a £500 prize pool, with the British University Sim Racing featuring a £250 prize pool. In addition, the winning teams and players will also win Monster Energy Stock Drops.
You can find out more about them here.
Overall, another excellent performance by the University of Birmingham – well done!
TENSTAR Bid Farewell to VALORANT Roster
After a successful tenure with the club TENSTAR VALORANT graduate as Rising Stars to esports titans MAD LIONS.
After first signing to the club as Tarren Mill in May 2021 as its first competitive roster TENSTAR VALORANT has seen numerous successes that resulted in the emergence of one of the most competitive EU VALORANT rosters.
Mad announced they brought on board the roster from UK esports organisation Tenstar in an extravagant announcement video featuring the players here.
Tenstar bid farewell to their roster in a tweet and article detailing some of the team’s achievements.
About TENSTAR
TENSTAR are a west midlands based esports organisation. The move of their VALORANT roster is part of their Accelerated Professional Player Programme (TAP³) which they announced in July last year. The programme will help scout, support, and develop aspiring esports professionals across a range of competitive titles with the aim of producing esports athletes, coaches and support staff who can compete at the highest levels of esports excellence.
That’s it from me, friends. Until then don’t forget to watch out for me on Mondays over at the Geeky Brummie Twitter or follow me on my personal handle @MrMatLovell. Adios!
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