Nerd Street Gamers and Spectacor Gaming recognized as finalists for The*gameHERs Awards: Most Inclusive Team

This Nomination Highlights The FTW Summer Showdown: Powered by Nerd Street Gamers, Which Featured The Largest-Ever Women’s VALORANT Tournament Prize Pool

To vote for Nerd Street Gamers and Spector Gaming for Most Inclusive team, click here.

Nerd Street Gamers and Spectacor Gaming are finalists for The*gameHERs Awards: Most Inclusive team as a reflection of their efforts in the FTW Summer Showdown. This three-day, twelve-team VALORANT tournament cumulated in a $50,000 prize pool, which is the largest-ever VALORANT women’s tournament prize pool. Along with support from players and organizations across the industry, the tournament gained the attention of VALORANT publisher, Riot Games, who donated $40,000 to what was originally a $10,000 prize pot, and named the tournament and official Ignition Series event.

Team MAJKL won the FTW Summer Showdown and continued their much earned success by signing with Cloud 9, picking up the name Cloud White.

“Being part of the FTW Summer Showdown makes me feel accepted and supported within the esports industry,” said Ali Berkey, Tournament Coordinator at Nerd Street Gamers. “So often is everything within gaming dominated by men, including the tournaments I run on a daily basis. My goal at the end of the day is to make women feel that they are welcome and accepted in any tournament space.”

Both Nerd Street Gamers and Spectacor Gaming pride themselves on inclusivity and accessibility for all gamers. With harsh environments and hate speech still very existent in competitive gaming, the teams joined forces to provide a positive opportunity for women VALORANT players through the FTW Summer Showdown.

The FTW Summer Showdown tournament is part of a larger inclusion initiative, FTW: For The Women. Spectacor Gaming launched its women in gaming resource group in 2019 to connect, support, and inspire the growth and advancement of women across all sectors of the gaming landscape. FTW has expanded its partnership with Nerd Street Gamers to help foster a dynamic amateur-to-pro pipeline, furthering its mission to champion an inclusive space for women and their allies by empowering them through networking, professional growth opportunities, and tournaments that help drive the industry forward.

“It takes a village to pull off what FTW has been able to do in just one year,” said Meredith Weber, Partnerships Associate, Spectacor Gaming and Co-Founder, FTW. “The teamwork and dedication between Spectacor Gaming and Nerd Street Gamers to build women up in the esports space is truly inspiring and pushes me to work harder every day for a more inclusive and diverse industry.”

To vote for Nerd Street Gamers and Spector Gaming for Most Inclusive team, click here.

About Nerd Street Gamers

Nerd Street Gamers is a national network of esports facilities and events dedicated to powering competitive opportunities for gamers. The company promotes greater access to the esports industry, laying a national framework for esports talent development and high-quality gaming tournaments. NSG has received backing from Five Below, Comcast, SeventySix Capital, Elevate Ventures, and angel investor George Miller.

For more information, follow @nerdstgamers on Twitter or visit nerdstgamers.com.

About Spectacor Gaming

Spectacor Gaming is a North American gaming and esports organization that is a division of Comcast NBCUniversal. Spectacor Gaming owns and operates the Philadelphia Fusion, which competes in Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League and is the first professional esports organization to represent the City of Philadelphia. In addition, Spectacor Gaming has created FTW: For The Women, a resource group dedicated to connecting, supporting, and inspiring the growth and advancement of women across all sectors of the gaming landscape. Spectacor Gaming is owned and operated by Comcast Spectacor, a professional sports and live entertainment company based in Philadelphia and an invested partner of T1 Entertainment & Sports and Nerd Street Gamers.