The Vtuber Awards, also styled as The VTuber Awards, are awards presented to the best in the VTuber industry organized by talent management company Mythic Talent.[1] The first ceremony was held in 2023.[2]
Process
Users are given an option to submit nominations, and afterwards they are given an option to choose one nominee for each category.[3]
The first edition was held on December 16, 2023 at the WePlay Esports Arena in Los Angeles, California.[3] It was hosted by Filian in a room normally for esports and broadcast on her Twitch channel.[3][5] Mythic Talent, Filian's agency, was the producer of the ceremony.[5]
Although VTubers had a dedicated Streamy Awards category and won Content Creator of the Year at The Game Awards 2023, The Vtuber Awards were, according to Morgan Sung at TechCrunch, "one of the first of its kind [...] for VTubing".[5] Regarding the idea for The VTuber Awards, Filian said: "In every awards show, VTubers are often a footnote or sometimes treated as a unique, strange thing, and so the idea for these awards is like, 'Why not have a show for ourselves?'".[5]
While hosting the ceremony, Filian spent more than seven hours in a motion capture suit with only two bathroom breaks, in contrast to her usual streams at home.[5] Due to privacy concerns, behind-the-scenes photographers used a stand-in crew member in place of Filian, who reportedly felt awkward in performing as a VTuber in front of other people.[5] The ceremony was held on a virtual stage designed in Unreal Engine, after plans for a physical stage was scrapped because according to Chief Visionary Officer of WePlay Studios Maksym Bilonogov, "it's not the way, it’s not the right philosophy".[5] According to Filian, WePlay Studios covered around half of the total production costs, which amounted to a total of around USD $100,000, with the remaining costs split between Mythic Talent and Filian herself through the show's sponsors.[6]
Among VTubers affiliated with VShojo, Zentreya received three nominations and Ironmouse won three awards.[7] Several other VShojo VTubers also received awards and nominations, including Matara Kan, Henya the Genius, Projekt Melody, and Zentreya.[7] MrAJCosplay of Anime News Network praised Projekt Melody's acceptance speech for her Lewdtuber of The Year award as "a wonderful speech about the award representing how far the community has come in breaking down social barriers".[7]
In addition to several nominations, Hololive Production and its affiliated VTubers won nine of the awards at the 2023 VTuber Awards, including Best VTuber Organization. Nijisanji VTubers also had several nominations and awards, including two wins by Selen Tatsuki for Best FPS VTuber and Gamer of the Year. Shylily, in addition to presenting the Miss VTuber Award to Ironmouse, won the Best Chatting/Zatsu VTuber Award.[7] For Indie VTubers, Vedal987, creator of Neuro-sama, won the Best Tech VTuber award.
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡). The lists are arranged alphabetically, except for the winner.
The second edition was held on December 14, 2024 at the WePlay Esports Arena in Los Angeles, California.[9] It was co-hosted by Filian and Shylily and broadcast on the former's Twitch and YouTube channels.[10] For the first time, the award show also featured a halftime show: a 3D concert performed by Phase Connect's Ashelia Rinkou and Kaneko Lumi.[11] WePlay Studios was the producer of the ceremony.[9]
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡). The lists are arranged alphabetically, except for the winner.
