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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, AnimationXpressArun Rao | senior vice-president, Havas PlayBruce Lin | NB marketing manager, MSI IndiaBiren Ghose | president – ABAI | chairman – Bengaluru GAFXC B Arun Kumar | dean – design, film, gaming, Pearl AcademyChristopher Stair | co-founder & game director, Squid Shock StudiosMike Fischer | professor of interactive media, University of Southern CaliforniaRajat Ojha | CEO, GamitronicsRK Chand | executive director – The Mill, Technicolor Group India | secretary, ABAISiddharth Nayyar | co-founder and CRO, Max LevelSupriya Mankame | deputy general manager, Gigabyte Technology IndiaTushar Handa | associate vice-president – creative, culture & platform strategy, Publicis PlayVishal Parekh | COO, CyberPowerPC IndiaVishvesh 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
Best Promo/ Commercial
Best Production
Commercial Partner of the Year
Moment of the Year
Athlete of the Year
Tournament Organiser of the Year
Tournament of the Year
Best Team
Best Player- Male
Content Creator of the Year
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:
The awards will feature two special categories recognising exceptional contributions to the Indian gaming and esports ecosystem:
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.
