The Esports Awards 2024 will be extending their partnership with luxury car manufacturer Lexus following an announcement made on October 23, 2024. The announcement also shed light on the silent omission of the Journalist of the Year award during this year’s program.
Early on, the Esports Awards had announced that this year they would be hosting a split-format event where the first ceremony would be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the summer with a follow-up event in London later this year. This decision raised a lot of eyebrows as the Journalist of the Year Award wasn’t part of the Riyadh program, leading many to speculate that it may have been scrapped all together.
With the announcement of Lexus’ return to sponsoring the event through two main categories, namely the “Esports Content Creator of the Year” and “Esports Organization of the Year,” it became abundantly clear that the Journalist of the Year Award had been completely wiped from this year’s program. The removal of this specific award does little to help the already controversial situation surrounding the Esports Awards and their partnership with the Saudi government-backed Esports World Cup.
Journalists and creators have been very critical of the Saudi government and their participation in eSports, citing their attempts as a means to mask their underlying violations and issues through sport. The term “sport washing” has been used countless times in conversation surrounding the Saudi government, as their ever-increasing foray into eSports looks to be a perfect example of it. Multiple human rights and social justice concerns surrounding women, refugees, and LGBTQ persons prop up whenever the Saudi government is brought up, as they are constantly embroiled in issues with international entities such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch over their conduct.
The ceremony will have 13 categories that will be open for public voting and will be part of the PWR UP week in Los Angeles as opposed to London. The event will feature various player, team, and broadcast awards as well as a number of additional activities, such as a golf tournament. Lexus’ return will bring about the return of the Lexus Lounge, which is an exclusive red carpet area that will also host the Glambot as well as other activities. The second leg of the Esports Awards will take place in Los Angeles as part of the PWR UP week on November 21, 2024.