MIHAJA
The Nomination Process
As a final reminder, when the awards were unveiled in December last year, the Maltese Esports Association made a public call for nominees. The general public was then allowed to submit their nominations for each category until the end of 2024. A shortlist of public nomination nominees has been drafted for each category. The winners for each category will be unveiled live during the awards ceremony tomorrow!
Rookie of The Year
Celebrating Malta’s rising talent, this category will be awarded to a newcomer who has made an immediate impact in competitive play. Nominees should have shown great potential, strong performances, and rapid improvement throughout the year.
Andrea “Drakur” Vella
With his second nomination of the ceremony, it’s important to once again highlight Drakur’s achievements! The youngest player on Project Eversio’s League of Legends roster had a great year with his team. Alongside the rest of the roster, the young mid-laner reached 4 event finals in 2024 and won three of them.
Kelven
Kelven is a variety steamer and YouTuber who has amassed an impressive 3,240 subscribers on YouTube as of the time of writing. He competes in Trackmania 2020 and has achieved several notable results in the game, currently ranked an incredible 23rd in Europe and 28th globally. This is an unbelievable ranking for a game with over 45,000 players on the leaderboards!
Clayne “Reapz” Wilson
During his debut Tekken season in 2024, Reapz landed some great results. A couple of top 8 finishes and solid performances throughout the year mean Reapz will definitely be a player to look out for in the future!
Ethan Lee Pisani
With some impressive displays in just his first year of competing in Tekken, Ethan Lee Pisani shows great promise in becoming a top contender in the Tekken circle in the future.
Aaron Debattista
One of the founders of Intercomp VMD Simsport, Aaron Debatista had a great year in 2024 which saw him claim multiple podium finishes, most recently taking 3rd place at the ACER Malta GT3 Championship.
Valid Xerox
Valid Xerox is a competitive Fortnite player and content creator. He has amassed an impressive 40,000 followers on TikTok and regularly ranks highly in official online tournaments.
Sports Simulation Player of The Year
Ending with the most prestigious individual award, and perhaps the most prestigious award overall. This category recognizes the overall best Maltese esports competitor. The winner should have demonstrated excellence, dominance in their respective game, and outstanding achievements on both local and international stages. All nominees for this category have already been nominated for other awards highlighting their incredible talent and dedication to their games. This section will once again reiterate the accomplishments of these players.
Lyon “Lyonidas” Buhagiar
Winner of the 2024 National Circut, Project Eversio’s Lyonidas is the most decorated Tekken player in Malta. Having been at the forefront of the scene for several years, Lyonidas has collected an incredible amount of accolades. With the release of Tekken 8 in 2024, Lyonidas not only organised tournaments for the community but has continued to compete and win various events.
Lyonidas is the Maltese esports player with the most international experience. Since 2019 Lyonidas has attended a staggering 30 international LAN events. His standout event came in 2022 where he beat the then-French Champion and then-German Champion on his way to place top 8 at THE MIXUP, one of the largest European Tekken Events. Lyonidas has also represented Malta on several occasions, qualifying for the IESF World Championship in 2020. He had to place as one of the top 8 players in Europe to qualify. In the 2023 IESF World Championships, he finished 17th out of 91, Malta’s best-ever result.
Lyonidas’ international achievements don’t end there, in 2024 he attended five international LANs. In these events, he always placed in the top 15% of competitors. At the LOK Dojo #16 in Greece Lyonidas also achieved a podium finish. His 2nd place finish was the first time a Maltese fighting game player ever had a podium finish in an international LAN event.
Shaun “Brandsha” Galea
Malta’s current FIFA (EA Sports FC) champion Brandsha has made big waves in his scene. After winning the Malta ePremier League back-to-back in 2023 and 2024, Brandsha would go on to compete at both the FC Pro 24 World Championship play-in stage and the eChampions League where he would beat the former world champion and current Spanish champion nicolas99fc.
Mateja “Qpert” Mijovic
Qpert is a professional Valorant and is one of only two players on a professional esports contract in the country. Throughout his career, Qpert has worked with and represented various Tier 1 teams in various degrees. He has played with distinguished international organisations including Penta, Sector One, Cloud 9, Digital Athletics and SK Gaming. Qpert also served as an assistant coach for The Guard and an analyst for Team Liquid’s main team. Throughout his career, Qpert won a number of international tournaments, both online and on LAN. These included the Project V: SPlint 1 Finals in Germany in 2022 and the NSG Valorant Lockadown LAN in California in 2023. In 2024, Qpert and his team placed 7th at the Valorant Challengers 2024 DACH: Evolution Split 2. They also took 1st place at the GG Weekend Rush.
Miguel “Hid0” Caruana
Hid0 is one of just two people in Malta who play esports on a professional contract. He represented NORD Esports in the Nordic League and more recently, AEGIS in the French League. While playing with NORD, Hid0 also became the first Maltese player to qualify for the EMEA Masters. This is a highly competitive championship featuring the best Tier 2 League of Legends teams in Europe.
Lian “Bungy” Bugeja
Bungy is a jack of all trades when it comes to competitive video games. He currently competes for Project Eversio and is part of the organisation’s Counter-Strike and Rocket League rosters. Bungy is Malta’s most decorated Rocket League player and has never lost a domestic tournament since he started competing in the game in 2019. Most recently he took first place at Playcon’s 2024 Rocket League tournament (where he also won the Counter-Strike tournament)!
Simon “SXJ” Debono
SXJ plays Overwatch 2 as a DPS in the EMEA Overwatch Championship series at the top tier of Overwatch esports. He currently represents the Finish team SrPeakCheck, having just transferred from ExOblivion. He has notable international LAN victories in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Starting in 2022 SXJ won the Les Nouveaux Heros LAN in France. He would go on to win EPIC.LAN 41 and 42 over in England over the next couple of years. In 2024 SXJ would also place 5th/6th in the EMEA Stage 3, the highest tier league in Overwatch, with 133 teams competing. His latest LAN appearance was in October 2024 where he would place second at EPIC.LAN 43 in England.
The Final Countdown
With the Malta Esports Awards taking place tomorrow, it is almost time to find out who the winners are!
The 2024 esports season has showcased extraordinary talent, proving that Maltese players can compete at the highest levels both locally and internationally. The nominees demonstrated remarkable skill, dedication, and sportsmanship, which must make the final selection incredibly challenging for the judges.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading along as I did my best to highlight each of the incredible nominees. Stay tuned for more updates on the event once it concludes!
Zelli0n
