The public will however, help to choose the nominees with the eSports Player of the Year Award once again being subdivided into six regional awards; America, China, Korea, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Northern Europe.

The six winners of the regional polls on the "biggest eSports pages of all six regions from June 25 until July 5" will be nominated for the eSports Player of the Year, with the eSports Award Academy - a collection of the biggest names in eSports - deciding the winner.

One important change from last year is that the Best eSports Coverage Award, which was won by Chinese website Replays.net last year, will now also be determined by the Academy after a public vote helps to decide the nominees.

"Taking into account last year's criticism of this category, for the first time the winner of the Best eSports Coverage Award will be determined by the eSports Award Academy. But the community still has a major influence on the outcome as they will be deciding who the five nominees are going to be," said ESL in their official release.

With polls in eSports proving continiously impossible to monitor, this is perhaps a measure to avoid poll rigging like we have already seen in eStars in the past. This means that of all the thirteen categories only one is completely decided through public vote, with the category winners decided by peers in the eSports Award Academy instead of fans, which is typical in professional sports.