After gaming and metaverse, AnimationXpress has unveiled the nominees for the esports segment of its highly anticipated GEM Awards 2025. The nominations include top players, visionary teams, pioneering organisations and influential content creators.
GEM Awards is set to celebrate and recognise the trailblazers who are shaping the future of the Indian gaming and esports industry. The ceremony will take place on 28 February 2025 at The Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru, from 6 to 8 pm. This year, GEM Awards is being hosted as part of Bengaluru GAFX, India’s premier annual conference for the animation, VFX, and gaming industries.
This year, AnimationXpress received an overwhelming number of entries for the esports categories, with a select few outstanding submissions making it to the final nominations, which were determined by an expert panel of judges. The awards will also recognise the best technology and hardware brands that have made the gaming experience for the buyers and players easier and smoother.
The Fan Choice category of the GEM Awards invited gaming and esports enthusiasts to vote for their favourite gaming content creators, players, games, and teams. AnimationXpress received an overwhelming response, with fan votes exceeding 100,000.
The gaming, esports and metaverse awards jury consisted an esteemed panel of industry experts:
Anil NM Wanvari | founder, chairman & editor-in-chief, AnimationXpress
Arun Rao | senior vice-president, Havas Play
Bruce Lin | NB marketing manager, MSI India
Biren Ghose | president – ABAI | chairman – Bengaluru GAFX
C B Arun Kumar | dean – design, film, gaming, Pearl Academy
Christopher Stair | co-founder & game director, Squid Shock Studios
Mike Fischer | professor of interactive media, University of Southern California
Rajat Ojha | CEO, Gamitronics
RK Chand | executive director – The Mill, Technicolor Group India | secretary, ABAI
Siddharth Nayyar | co-founder and CRO, Max Level
Supriya Mankame | deputy general manager, Gigabyte Technology India
Tushar Handa | associate vice-president – creative, culture & platform strategy, Publicis Play
Vishal Parekh | COO, CyberPowerPC India
Vishvesh Mishra | national product marketing manager (India), DeepCool
On judging the entries, Mishra shared, “It was such a great experience and an absolute pleasure to be able to judge the tremendous talent that our esports industry has to offer and kudos to all the organisers for not only creating a beautiful platform like the GEM Awards but also being able to fill each category up to the brim with such great talent. I’m really looking forward to the event and its execution and obviously best of luck from the bottom of my heart to all the participants and congratulations to each of the winners.”
Here’s a full list of nominations in esports, technology and special categories:
Caster of the Year
- Akash “Salty” Kolay
- Umesh “Kripz” Kripalani
- Dhrubajyoti “Captain Price” Das
- Sanat “Lucif3r” Kumar
- Ankit “Ankiiibot” Pandey
Best Promo/ Commercial
- Cricket Elite Esports | Santhana Krishnan
- Global Esports GE x Intel Team Collaboration 2023
- Rivalry Anthem | Ampverse DMI
- Skyesports Masters: Counter-Strike Awakening
Best Production
- Tesseract Esports | BGIS 2024
- Global Esports | Fight Night Season 5
- Ampverse DMI | College Rivals
- Skyesports | Global e-Cricket Premier League
- Nodwin Gaming | (BGMS) Season 3
Commercial Partner of the Year
- Orangutan x Puma Brand Collaboration
- College Rivals x Redbull
- Gods Reign x Times OOH
- Flipkart joins the Skyesports Masters
- Hero Xtreme x GodLike Esports
Moment of the Year
- IQOO Battlegrounds Mobile India Pro Series 2024
- Riot Games India & South Asia | Convergence
- Gladiators Esports | Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2023
- Gods Reign | India – Korea Invitational
- GodLike CODM Team | CODM WC 2023
Athlete of the Year
- Sarangajyoti “Sarang” Deka
- Ammar “Destro” Khan
- Saksham “Deadly10” Aurnagabadkar
- Jonathan “Jonathan Gaming” Amaral
- Pokemon
Tournament Organiser of the Year
- Tesseract Esports
- AKEF Esports
- The Esports Club | Convergence 2023
- Skyesports
- Nodwin Gaming
Tournament of the Year
- AKEF Esports, KPL 2024
- Global Esports, VCT Pacific 2023
- Ampverse DMI, College Rivals
- Skyesports, BMPS 2024
- Nodwin Gaming, BGMS Season 3
Best Team
- Revenant Xspark | BGIS 2024
- Marcos Gaming | India Premiership 2023
- Gladiators Esports | BGIS
- Gods Reign | BGMS, BGIS, BMPS
- Godlike Esports | CODM
Best Player- Male
- Harsh “Spraygod” Malik
- Ganesh “SK Rossi” Gangadhar
- Bhavesh “Bhavi” Sejwani
- Subham “NinjaJod” Sahoo
- Tanishq “Admino” Singh
Content Creator of the Year
- Sakshi “Sharkshe” Shetty
- Yash “Lollzzz” Thakkar
- Anshu “GamerFleet” Bisht
- Pragya “Winter” Verma
Some more categories in this segment are Best Streaming Platform, Esports Coach of the Year, Esport Organisation Of the Year, Streamer of the Year (Male) and Streamer of the Year (Female). And the tech categories in the segment include Best Custom PC Builder and Best PC Hardware Brand.
The Fans Choice Awards categories include:
- Fan Favourite Esports Team of the Year
- Fan Favourite Content Creator of the Year
- Fan Favourite Lifestyle Gaming Personality of the Year
- Fan Favourite Lifestyle Gaming Personality of the Year
- Best Esports Female Player of the Year
- Best Esports Male Player of the Year
- Most Trending Game of the Year.
The awards will feature two special categories recognising exceptional contributions to the Indian gaming and esports ecosystem:
- State Contribution to the Indian Esports Industry
- Contribution to Gaming & Esports Industry in India
AnimationXpress welcomes everyone to join GEM Awards 2025 to celebrate the milestones and achievements of the gaming and esports industry. All those who wish to attend the awards ceremony can click here to register.