Riot Games has announced the 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour, a season-long competition tour set to take place throughout 2021 for its newly released competitive 5v5 character-based tactical shooter VALORANT.

The 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour will feature competitions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, and will crown a single global Champion at the end of the year.

“The Champions Tour is our next step to grow VALORANT into a global esport worthy of the passion of our fans. We’ve spent a couple of years now talking to players, teams, fans, prospective partners, and other stakeholders, and we’re extremely excited to launch our first official season. Our focus will be on elevating and showcasing the creative and talented players who are shaping this game across the globe. Fans and players both wanted high stakes competition, and that’s what the VALORANT Champions Tour is designed to do,” Whalen Rozelle, Senior Director of Esports at Riot Games, said.

The VALORANT Champions Tour will feature three levels of competition: Challengers, Masters and Champions. Teams begin their journey by first playing in regional Challenger events before advancing to international Masters events. At the three Masters events set to take place in 2021, top performing teams will accumulate points which will count towards qualification for the Champions event. This final stage will feature the top sixteen teams in the world and will crown a single global champion.

It is the fifth year of the annual eSports Awards, and as the popularity of eSports grows – especially this year – so does the size of the awards sports.

The event handed out 32 awards on Saturday, November 21, over Twitch – as a full live event with award nominees, presenters, and fans was not possible this year – or if they did try and go through with it, the fines would have been astronomical, and no one wants to get hit with a big bill during these times. Hopefully, the show can return to normal in 2021 – and not only take place over Twitch.

Big Winners at the 2020 eSports Awards

Ibai “Ibai” Llanos was a big winner at the show, taking home the “Streamer of the Year” Award. Llanos plays a range of games. He started with League of Legends back in 2014 – and is best known for it. However, he has expanded and also casts FIFA and Rocket League.

Another bigger at the awards ceremony was Team Secret – who took home the award for “2020 eSports Team of the Year.” Their active squad of MATUMBAMAN, Nisha, zai, YapzOr, and Puppey (team captain) took home a trophy, along with coach Heen, director John Yao, and manager Cyborgmatt. The team won two of the biggest DOTA 2 tournaments of 2020 – DreamLeague Season 13 in January and OMEGA League: Europe Immortal Division in September.

Emily Rand took home the award for “eSports Journalist of the Year,” thanks to her covering of eSports for ESPN. Her work with the American sports conglomerate touched on a range of subjects – from rosters, players, and teams to eSports fashion and family life.

Her news reporting on eSports helped ESPN reach more people, and the popularity of eSports grow in America – as Americans dealt with a lack of sports for over three months.

You can see a full list of winners at the 2020 eSports Awards below.

Community Awards

• Streamer of the Year Presented by Lexus – Ibai “Ibai” Llanos

• Esports Play of the Year In Association With RESPAWN Products – İsmailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş

• Esports Personality of the Year Presented by Lexus – Carlos “ocelote” Rodríguez Santiagos

• Esports Content Creator of the Year In Association With Esports Stadium Arlington –  Xavier “UpUpDownDown” Woods

• Esports Collegiate Award – Tyrelle Appleton

• Esports Mobile Game of the year – FreeFire

“LEC Caster” by lolesports is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Industry Awards

• Esports Journalist of the Year – Emily Rand

• Esports Hardware Provider of the Year – Elgato

• Esports Game of the Year In Association With The Koyo Store – League of Legends

• Esports Commercial Partner of the Year – Logitech

• Esports Publisher of the Year In Association With Live CGI from Esports Supply – Riot Games

• Esports Coverage Website of the Year In Association With Sizzle Creative – The Esports Observer

• Esports Supporting Agency of the Year In Association With Grind Gaming – CSA

• Panel’s Choice Award in association with Touch of Ginger – Michal Slowinski

• Panel’s Choice Award in association with Touch of Ginger – Steve Dudenhoeffer

Lifetime Achievement Awards in Esports – Class of 2020

• Johnathan “Fatality” Wendel

• Daigo Umehara

• Richard Lewis

• Craig “Torbull” Levine

• Michael Sepso

• Lim “Boxer” Yo-Hwan

Creative Awards

• Esports Cosplay of the Year – Glory Lamothe

• Esports Photographer of the Year – Rich Loch

• Esports Videographer of the Year – Logan Dodson

• Esports Content Team of the Year – LEC

• Esports Content Series of the Year – Eavesdrop Podcast

• Esports Creative/Creative Team of the Year in association with eBeatz – Paper Crowns

• Esports Creative Piece of the Year – Warriors Cinematic by Riot Games

On Air Awards

• Esports Caster of the Year (Colour) – Michael “Kixstar” Stockley

• Esports Caster of the Year (Play by Play) – Clayton “Captain Flowers” Raines

• Esports Host of the Year – Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere

• Esports Analyst of the Year – Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill

Pro Awards

• Esports Team of the Year – Team Secret

• Esports Console Player of the Year In Partnership With SCUF – Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro

• Esports PC Player of the Year – Michał “Nisha” Jankowski

• Esports Organisation of the Year – G2 Esports

• Esports Coach of the Year – Lee “Heen” Seung Gon (Team Secret)

• Esports PC Rookie of the Year In Association With Matrix Keyboards – Ryu “Keria” Min-seok

• Esports Console Rookie of the Year In Partnership With SCUF – Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro

• Esports Mobile Player of the Year – Made Bagas “Zuxxy” Pramudita