Ana N. 🦊

Here is my longer post regarding this nomination. Im a bit conflicted by this nomination at the esports awards. I have commentated 7 tournaments this year, however my main body of work in 2025 internationally is hosting. If their panel believes that qualifies me to be on the play-by-play catagory then so be it. There are some important things to say though beyond my own vanity concerns. Firstly, the talent on play-by-play for this year is excellent. Beyond the games I cover professionally, I watch and keep up to speed with everything going on in esports. I loved watching ODPixel at The International. My friend and colleague Pansy cast alongside our dear Hypoc for the Valorant final. The ever charismatic Miles Ross who always exudes such a welcoming energy, who I love getting to converse with annually now at EWC. I could go on. Relative to their body of work for 2025, I do not deserve to be considered. However, if we were considering my past tenure in commentary and the fact that I am easily amongst the most veteran on the list then i'm ok with it. And that is where the under-appreciated games at the Esports Awards comes in to play. If you would like to vote for me, then aside from my work which im always proud of and take constant strides to "be the best", consider it a vote for the under-represented games. Consider it a vote for Starcraft II, which set the bar for modern western esports and where we laid the foundations for many great games and scenes to flourish. Consider it a vote for the PUBG community, the most competitive BR game and which broke records, truly giving birth to what is the goliath of Battle Royale and its esports legacy. I was asked so many times in my career "why dont you go do the bigger esports? dota2? CS? etc" and the answer is I only ever wanted to cover games I whole-heartedly enjoy. Could I have been a bigger name and been on these nominations before if I had pivoted? Almost certainly. And while I actually do enjoy something like dota2 I always restrained myself when offered a gig or two in the field because giving reverence to the history of the game, its players and scene was beyond my priorities at the time. What i'm trying to get at is this. The under-appreciated games in esports have some of the very best talent in the industry, and they stay there because they love the games they cover. In staying there, they are often passed over by the esports awards because they're not "the big games". Ive now been commentating, hosting, consulting and even mentoring in esports for 15+ years. From my early years full time at ESL to doing what is now probably 2,000+ show days. In that time i'm proud of my work in SC2, PUBG, PUBG Mobile, Heroes of the Storm before its "death", even Guild Wars 2 world championships and other projects ive taken part in. I'm also proud of the talent i've guided along the way as well, and overjoyed when those and others come to me for advice. My parting word is - I won't win, but every vote for me I consider a vote for those who love all of esports, under appreciated esports and not just an isolated scene. Thank you for reading and if you'd like to spread this message I would appreciate it.