With the Six Invitational 2020 marking the end of the Siege Year, it is now time to reflect back on Year Four and commend those who have truly stood out amongst their peers. This will be a continuation of the 2018 awards, but with some changes.

First, the awards will be based on the Siege year rather than the calendar year, owing to the slight misalignment between the two (March to February rather than January to December). This will better represent the achievements of teams and players throughout the calendar. The awards given in 2018 will also be slightly adjusted and will be as follows:

Top Ten Players of Year Four

The first and most significant change to the awards is replacing the "Player of the Year" award with a top-ten list. We will announce the top ten players counting down from number ten to number one while releasing a series of achievements and statistics to back up each choice. As before, the decisions made are based on statistics, but the statistics are put into context and judged holistically by our senior staff.

After the list has been fully revealed, a list of "Honourable Mentions" will also be unveiled. This will represent a handful of players (in no order) who had exemplary years of competition that were worthy of commendation but due to the limited nature of a top ten list missed the final cut.

The Top Ten:

Stéphane " Shaiiko " Lebleu Nathanial "Rampy" Duvall Danila "Dan" Dontsov Luccas "Paluh" Molina Juhani "Kantoraketti" Toivonen Maurice " AceeZ " Erkelenz Jason "Beaulo" Doty Danil "JoyStiCK" Gabov Dylan "Bosco" Bosco Frankie "VertcL" Cordero

Honourable Mentions:

Matthew "Achieved" Solomon Matthew "" Solomon

Ben "CTZN" McMillan Ben "" McMillan

Bryan "Elemzje" Tebessi Bryan "" Tebessi

Paul "Hyper" Kontopanagiotis Paul "" Kontopanagiotis

Gabriel "LaXInG" Mirelez Gabriel "" Mirelez

André "Nesk" Oliveira André "" Oliveira

Niclas "Pengu" Mouritzen Niclas "" Mouritzen

Artur "ShepparD" Ipatov Artur "" Ipatov

Click here to read more about each of the honourable mentions.

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Play of the Year

Winner: neLo

Click here to read more about neLo's play.

This award will be replacing Clutch of the Year from the last edition of the awards. It was seen as unnecessarily restrictive to only consider clutches when there can be other jaw-dropping plays in many other contexts. The Play of the Year will be given to the play that was the most exciting, impactful, and significant throughout the whole year.

Team of the Year

Winner: Team Empire

Click here to read more about Team Empire in Year 4.

The Team of the Year award remains unchanged from its previous iteration. It honors the team that was most dominant throughout the year, not only in winning championships but also their overall impact on the competitive community. A "team" in this context is a single lineup of five players, so an organization and/or core that makes roster changes throughout the year would be considered multiple "teams".

Match of the Year

Winner: SSG vs NiP

Click here to read more about SSG vs NiP at the Six Invitational.

The Match of the Year award will be given to the series that was most exciting from a spectator's perspective. This can mean multiple things, from the pure skill displayed by the plays made in the game, to the context of what winning or losing the match means to each team, to the storylines and stakes that may come from a high-pressure LAN final to distribute millions in prize money.

Rookie of the Year

Winner: Dan

Click here to read more about Dan's outstanding rookie year.

This award also remains from the previous version and will be given to the player who has had the most impressive first year in the scene. The definition of a "rookie" is somewhat elusive due to the fluid nature of what constitutes a "first season". We decided that a player would need to amass significant playing time at the top level of competition. A player would not be disqualified from consideration if he played Challenger League in a previous year, or filled in on a Pro League team for a few games. A player's first "true" year at the top level of competition is what counts.

Caster of the Year

Winner: KiXSTAr

Click here to read more about KiX's year of casting.

The first award not to be given in a non-competitive category, the Caster of the Year award seeks to honor a member of our broadcast talent that has performed above and beyond expectations throughout the year. Casters, analysts, hosts, interviewers and more do so much to enrich the esports experience for fans and spectators that it is important to commend them for their work.

Community Member of the Year

Winner: Get_Flanked

Click here to read more about Get_Flanked's contributions to the community.

Finally, we also thought it was appropriate to honor a member of the community who contributes to the Rainbow Six esports ecosystem in some important way. The category is deliberately left vague in order to include a wide variety of possible recipients. The award was created with esports in mind but that does not mean that individuals outside the realm of what is typically associated with esports cannot be considered.

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The full awards will be unveiled in the coming days. Who do you think will win each award? Let us know on social media!