2nd Annual NFT Awards Honors True Crafters and Artists of the Metaverse

The renowned Axie Infinity wins Game of the Year, StarGarden gets recognition as Newcomer Game, and otaku-favorite Divine Anarchy bags Project of the Year. Every winner at the 2nd Annual NFT Awards deserved it, and here’s a glimpse of why.

Strong contenders: innovative NFT creations from 2021

No less than 400 nominated projects vyed for titles such as Project of the Year, Best Digital Fashion, Best Virtual World, Best Avatar, and more.

Held on February 10, 2022, in the Ethereum-based virtual world called Decentraland, the 2nd annual NFT Awards Ceremony honored 11 winners across 10 titles. The title Best Collaboration celebrated two entities that, as the name suggests, have collaborated successfully.

Winners included familiar names in the NFT world

If you’ve been following NFTs for a while now, you might have come across most of the winners in the 2nd Annual NFT Awards.

Axie Infinity

Renowned NFT game Axie Infinity easily garnered the Game of the Year award. Its sweeping popularity owed a lot to how much users loved its earning potential. Add to that the appeal of cuteness in the faces of the Axies.

We’ve written about a recent Axie Infinity update here. You’ll see in that article how much this NFT game is growing and maximizing user-generated content. Today, it’s becoming even more gigantic.

Divine Anarchy

Meanwhile, Project of the Year Divine Anarchy (DA) was the obvious choice for anime lovers. The project’s NFT art pieces are extremely gorgeous, and awe-inspiring, depending on the character of the “Citizen.” Yes, that’s what you’d call a DA NFT.

Divine Anarchy uniquely positions itself as the very first social RPG (role-playing game) NFT. It includes a collection of 10,000 Citizens, half of which are “Heroes,” and the other half, “Nemesis.” Citizens belong to 9 different bloodlines, all called to face the Divine Tribunal. Six thousand years after the “Great Flood,” these citizens are now bound to face judgment for their
“decadence.”

The best part? Once you obtain a DA NFT collectible, you can participate as a player in shaping the rest of the story.

If that storyline overview doesn’t interest you, we don’t know what will. Divine Anarchy was honored as the best overall NFT project of 2021, after all.

Project Eluüne’s StarGarden

Another upcoming RPG favorite is StarGarden, a Free2Play, Play&Own™️ game. It’s a game designed so that “you can make new friends.”

Their offer is quite attractive. You can own a StarGarden by buying one, or join someone’s and be a part of their tribe. Creators of this project describe a StarGarden as a fragmented plot of land. Interestingly, it’s “floating in the universe of Project Eluüne.”

Essentially, a StarGarden will serve as your home base. Here, you will interact with your tribe, strategize with them, and complete quests together.

Project Eluüne’s creators promise its game players something huge. You as a player can truly own the blockchain assets you collect and build in the game.

And they’re stoked to offer so much more.

12 expert judges have helped select NFT award winners

If you deem the winners worthy, that’s largely due to the team behind the selection process. They have artistic and intuitive eyes to recognize the true potential of each NFT project.

A panel of 12 judges was part of the key decision-makers in the NFT Awards 2022. These experts come from the gaming, entertainment, tech, and blockchain industries.

Big names such as Witek Radomski, Co-Founder and CTO of Enjin; Joe Conyers III, Executive Vice President of Crypto.com; and Holly Wood, Head of Creator Relationships at Rarible, all graced the event.

Moreover, the NFT Awards organizers have decided to include public voting in the selection process.

If anyone knew any better about NFT games, projects, and collections, it’s the players, the enthusiasts, and the collectors themselves. Hence, their valued opinions.

The nomination process was also open to everyone 

Nominations and voting were opened last year (2021) on October 28 and ended on December 3. Creators who fancy a trophy could even nominate their own project.

To make sure everything is fair, moderators reviewed the submissions. They deleted duplicated nominations and those with insufficient information.

You could also submit as many nominations as you like, and it’s all for free. Anyone interested had to create an account at Memberstack to prevent abuse and keep the process fair.

2022 calls for NFT creators to an exciting quest

The NFT Awards will be back next year to celebrate the best NFT creations of 2022. Crafters of innovative stories, RPGs, and art styles are all excited to up their game.

The organization might award the same titles, but they also might include new recognitions. The landscape of NFTs and NFT games is obviously still growing, so the possibilities are endless.

But, one thing remains.

Every winner was a true creator. Every idea was innovative, and every art had in it the heart of an architect that foresees an inevitable metaverse.