It’s kinda wild how EVO has grown up, from being held in an arcade in Sunnyvale, California to now hosting several events across the world per year, I think the single thing that might act as the event’s big coming out party would be the EVO Awards. Something that looks back and honors those who have contributions help make EVO what it is today.
The first annual Evo Awards took place this past weekend and not only saw awards being given out, but red carpet interviews, game announcements, and exhibitions of classic fighting titles as well as upcoming titles. Winners got to take home trophies adorned with a golden arcade cabinet and Stephen “Sajam” Lyon and Hayao better clear some shelf space as the two managed to led the pack with four wins each.
The 22 categories had some eclectic choices such as Best Button of the Year, Best Dressed, Marketing Campaign of the Year, but also featured awards which speaks to how deep the FGC is such as the Best FGC Local, MFGC Content of the Year and of course Moment of the Year. Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi, John “Choiboy” Choi and Alex “CaliPower” Valle were inducted into the EVO Hall of Fame and I also appreciate that in the lead up to the award ceremony that EVO put out mini-documentaries on each man on their YouTube channel.
Winners were supposedly by a pure audience vote, even though there was definitely some looseness regarding the voting requirements the list of winners seems to indicate the right people won. A truncated list of the winners are provided below.
Evo Awards Categories and Winners:
- Best On-Air Duo
- WINNER: IFCYipeS + Sajam
- Best Pop Off
- WINNER: Hayao
- Match of the Year Award
- WINNER: Hayao vs FrankieBFG
- Comeback of the Year presented by NACON
- WINNER: Hayao
- Best Custom Hardware presented by Chipotle
- WINNER: Haute Pad T-Series
- Marketing Campaign of the Year
- WINNER: Chipotle – Evo + SFG + TEKKEN 8
- Tech of the Year
- WINNER: Pro KO Leverless by Victrix
- Commentator of the Year
- WINNER: IFCYipeS
- They’ve Got Next presented by PlayStation Tournaments
- WINNER: Noah “NoahtheProdigy” Solis
- Best Dressed presented by Zenni
- WINNER: Tasty Steve
- Best Online Series
- WINNER: TNS Online
- Best FGC Local
- WINNER: Tatakai Tuesday
- Best Button of the Year
- WINNER: Ken Crouching Medium Kick
- Best Commentary
- WINNER: “That is a Worthless Button!” by Justin “JWong” Wong
- FGC Content of the Year
- WINNER: Sajam Slam
- FGC Meme of the Year presented by Chipotle
- WINNER: Attacks IRL
- Best FGC Cosplay
- WINNER: Chonibu
- Invitational of the Year
- WINNER: Sajam TEKKEN Slam
- Fighting Game Release of the Year
- WINNER: TEKKEN 8
- Content Creator of the Year
- WINNER: Sajam
- Player of the Year presented by Qiddiya Gaming
- WINNER: Punk
- Moment of the Year presented by Qiddiya Gaming
- WINNER: Hayao “Moment 38”
While I can’t say I’m technically a member of the FGC, I do enjoy watching it grow from the outside and look forward to what’s next. Will we see another EVO Awards next year? Who will be the next class of players that will be inducted to the Hall of Fame. I’m certain with such dedication and hard working Tournament Operators working behind the scenes, it’s going to be nothing but upward momentum for the foreseeable future.
You can catch the replay of the inaugural EVO Awards on Evo’s Twitch Channel or YouTube Channel and if you want to possibly witness the next big Evo moment, tickets for EVO in Last Vegas is on sale now at https//evo.gg/
THE EVO AWARDS POWERED BY QIDDIYA GAMING:
