Today we are proud to announce that TEK9's Call of Duty 4 ingame leader 
Antonin "OZWALD" Grenier has won the prestigious Esports Award for Best Call of Duty player and has been crowned CoD4 Player of the Year 2008!
Next to the award for Best CoD4 player, Antonin is amongst the five players nominated for the Breakthrough of the Year award. Unlike the online categories however, the winner of the breakthrough of the year award and the eight other categories will be announced in nine days from now, 23rd of August at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany.
The other playes nominated for Esports Award for Best Call of Duty player were:
Rob "rob-wiz" Kennedy - Evil Geniuses
Nikolaj "Mazarini" Lazarev - eSuba.HAL3000
Robert "smithz" Krivka - Team SPEED-LINK
Daniel "tidde" Asp - fnatic team
About the Esports Award
The eSports Award is the most prestigious accolade available in eSports. The Award is designed to give athletes, teams, journalists and developers involved with eSports proper recognition for their work and sportsmanship. Only the best of the best are honoured with the prize. Players are nominated for specific achievements in single tournaments. In most categories, the final winners are determined by a jury, while the community choses the awards honoring achievements for the community. The winners are crowned during a televised ceremony at Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany.
Related
www.esports-award.org
Why do you need to be better than someone else to judge? Journalists in the whole "real world" should quit their job if that was so, for instant when the best Premiership player gets picked - this happends by people who never reached anything on the pitch (except this year I believe)..
"while they never even bothered making an opinion out of it because then never bothered even spectating us"
stop playing the idiot
stop playing the idiot
Ah yes, you observe them 24/7 - guess that's why you know.
Anyways, not gna fight someone else's battle =)
edited 2008-08-14 23:46:20
but tbh this award should go to rob-wiz but as u say u didnt have any influence in the jury
edited 2008-08-15 00:43:19
stop playing the idiot
Ah yes, you observe them 24/7 - guess that's why you know.
Anyways, not gna fight someone else's battle =)
I play games against them, and I also spec them yes, dont need to "observe" them 24/7 to make an opinion out of somebody
these things are always biased/random, how can u still be surprised
if smiths/mazarini won it, okay thatd be weird.. but this isnt THAT shocking
and as you may have noticed, ozwald himself agrees that robwiz deserved it more
hey mark sopmeight :D
Grats ozwald :D
wtf his performance was just awesome on the latest lans
Okay, then do it. Contact those behind the award and inform them that you won't be accepting the award because you feel that Rob deserves it more. Have your manager set it up, and announce your opinion publicly and officially.
I'm Rob's manager, and EG's director; I don't claim to speak for him, or for my COD4 team (to be honest, I don't think Rob is too concerned with this, as he's an extremely team-oriented player), but I have very strong feelings about this situation.
I think that you, Ozwald, are a fantastic player. I think that your organization has a spectacular reputation and that both you and the tag you represent deserve the utmost respect. However, I can't sit back in silence here and pretend that that this selection is not completely absurd. When you have, literally, dozens upon dozens of comments from fellow top-tier COD4 players - including the selected winner himself - all of whom say that this was nothing short of an incomprehensible selection, and that Rob should be the winner, you know something's wrong.
I know that my COD4 players, as the professionals they are known to be, are biting their tongues in regards to this topic. And, to be honest, I was going to keep quiet about it as well. But when I read your comment, Ozwald, in which even you readily admit that Rob is the deserved winner of this award, and I just had to come out here and say something. You can't publicly say something like that - that Rob deserved the award, and that you'd gladly give it to him - unless you mean it.
I'm assuming that you did mean it, and I think that you should follow up, put your money where your mouth is, and give the award to its rightful recipient. So, if you contact me, I'd be happy to put you in touch with the folks at the eSports Award so you can inform them of your decision to give it to Rob. This is something that you quite easily can - and should - do, and I hope you show everyone that your words weren't empty by doing what's right.
I'll say again that Rob probably isn't paying much attention to all of this, because he's an extremely team-oriented player. But it's my job as his manager to look out for his better interests. This award is the one occasion in 2008 on which we'll publicly pay respect to an individual's accolades in COD4. And we all know that, with what Rob's done this year, it's nothing short of unthinkable for anyone else to be in that spotlight.
Sincerely,
Alex Garfield
Executive Director, Team EG
--
DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion, and my opinion alone. This is not the opinion of EG.COD4 (they, in fact, have not been briefed that I'm posting this), any other EG gaming division, or EG's sponsors. This opinion is articulated with the utmost respect for Ozwald, TEK9, and the eSports Award, all of whom should be recognized for their contributions and commitment to professional gaming and the COD community.
Over who's reputation, the organization giving out the award, or TEK9? I think you meant the first one, but a bit of clarity in what you post would be helpful ;-)
edited 2008-08-15 10:47:39
Well done to Ozwald. I'm sure it was deserved even if it does seem a little odd!
grats ozwald :)
pls give it to rob-wiz ! :p
Guess I'm gonna fight someone elses battle then :(
Every heard of "VODS" and "demos"?
But again, I have no idea what were the criteria of selection of the jury, and because of that I believe it would be disrespectful from me to give away to anybody a title that those people decided I should get.
You can call them clueless or go argue with them over the fact that I was selected, but the fact is that I have nothing to do with this and I don't want to have ANYTHING to do with this.
To finish and this is my last post, I also believe giving an award to a team's performance is relative, subjective and irrelevant. So in my opinion, giving an award to a player's performance when it is a team game is even more relative subjective and irrelevant.
I remain pragmatic and I have no real deep interest in the award, even though I do have respect for people organising it and doing their best to offer eSports a proper award ceremony.
The criteria IS known...
"Players are nominated for specific achievements in single tournaments." - esports-award.org
As for rob wiz, you have clearly been abscent these past 3 events. The kid is a living legend.
And OZWALD, you seriously need to read chib's post again, 'cause you are repeating yourself, and clearly missed the point.
edited 2008-08-15 15:00:24
grats.
edited 2008-08-15 15:37:09
chamillionaire - rollin'
grats.
idd so ppl should stop blaming ozwald and blame the jury from esport award
reading chib's post why do I get the feeling that it's more or less about him wanting to promote rob-wiz as the call of duty 4 player of the year? Since according to him rob-wiz does not pay any attention to this award but him "having to look out for his better interests".. Okay, I am pretty sure it's gonna look amazing on his CV, thanks for getting him that award...
useless discussion again .. gratz oz
edited 2008-08-15 16:22:28
true true, Canavaro wasnt the best but he took this award :P
grats oz-b
edited 2008-08-15 17:34:15
Well deserved !