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The Esports Awards 2022 kicked off on December 13 at Resort Worlds in Las Vegas, Nevada. Thousands of viewers tuned in to watch the highly anticipated awards ceremony, with several fans speculating about who would win the prestigious Streamer of the Year award.
It was revealed that Spanish Twitch sensation Ibai was named Streamer of the Year, while former Super Smash Bros. pro and Twitch content creator Juan "Hungrybox" won the Esports Content Creator of the Year at the Esports Awards 2022.
Ibai wins the Streamer of the Year award for the third time at the Esports Awards 2022
Several popular streamers were nominated for the flagship award, including Rachell "Valkyrae," Zack "Asmongold," Nicholas "Nickmercs," Ibai, and Guy "Dr DisRespect."
In the end, it was the Spanish icon, Ibai, who rose above all and was crowned the Streamer of the Year for the third time in a row:
Unfortunately, he could not attend the in-person event, but shared his sentiments through a pre-recorded clip. Ibai expressed his gratitude by saying:
"Hi, how are you? I'm Ibai. I hope everything is going well over there. The truth is that I am very grateful to receive this award. It is the third in a row. I have both of them, there in the background, and the truth is that, I couldn't be more proud. I think I am the first person to achieve this in the history of the Esports Awards."
Timestamp: 05:02:07
The 27-year-old went on to thank those who voted for him:
"So, thank you very much to all the public and all the people who voted for me, and who make the Spanish-speaking community one of the largest in the world. If not, the largest in the world. And thank you very much for trusting me. And also thanks to the Esports Awards for nominating me. A big hug to all of you and all the best."
Here are some of the most relevant fan reactions from Twitter to Ibai winning the Streamer of the Year award at the Esports Awards 2022 (translated to English, with Google Translate):
"Three years in a row pa! Great our noble giant!"
"This is already a tradition."
Hungrybox was named the Esports Content Creator of the Year at the Esports Awards 2022
The three-time Super Smash Bros. champion delivered a moving speech after being named Esports Content Creator of the Year at the awards ceremony. He began by stating that he didn't expect to win the award:
"Right... did not expect this, because there's a lot of Brazilians in the crowd. Anyways, I'm very honored. I was here three or four times, already. Throughout the pandemic, there was no more tournaments happening."
Hungrybox then mentioned playing online tournaments during the pandemic, recalling how his viewership suddenly increased:
"So, I thought to myself, 'What can I do to possibly keep myself going? I'll stay at home and do online tournaments.' All of a sudden, my viewership went from 400 to 3,000 in one night and I realized, me staying sane by playing tournaments during the pandemic kept a lot of my fans sane, too. And so, they kept me going, as well. So, thank you for that as well."
Hungrybox concluded his speech by praising some of the biggest Smash Bros. personalities, including Fizzy and Ludwig. He also explained why he believes the game will be "forever the greatest:"
"When you don't have a big brother pushing you, or supporting you, sometimes, you got to do it yourself. When you don't have online for your game, you got guys like Fizzy. When you don't have a big circuit, you got guys like Ludwig. And when you don't have guys pushing each other and the best players in the world, making this game exactly what it is. That's why Smash Bros. will be forever the greatest series in my eyes, of all time."
Here's what the online community had to say about Hungrybox winning the title at the Esports Awards:
Along with Ibai and Hungrybox, Matthew "Nadeshot" won the Esports Personality of the Year award, Ashley Kang won the Esports Journalist of the Year award, and Oleksandr "s1mple" won the Esports PC Player of the Year title.
