the*gamehers
The 2026 winners are here

the gamehers awards

Every year the community nominates and votes for the women, femme-identifying, and non-binary gamers moving this industry forward. This is the 2026 class.

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Two presenters with headset microphones sit in white armchairs on stage in front of the gamehers Awards logo.
1000+
Nominations
42,000+
Community votes
10
Categories
100
2026 winners
2026 Winners

meet the 2026 winners

These are the 100 winners building communities, breaking barriers, and moving gaming forward — ten per category, each with their own story.

Meet all 100
2026 Nominees

see all 2026 nominees

See every gameher nominated this year, listed by category. Ten categories in all: players, creators, builders, educators and organizers.

See the nominees
Why we do this

the industry notices later. we notice now.

the*gamehers exists to give women, femme-identifying, and non-binary gamers more visibility, more voice and more power in the gaming world. The awards are how we do that out loud — once a year, in public, with names attached.

The community decides who matters—not a panel. Anyone can be nominated, and self-nominations count just as much as nominations from others. The community votes in every category, and gaming is defined broadly: from casual players and hardcore gamers to techies, streamers, designers, cosplayers, developers, programmers, students, and educators who game.

The ten categories
Ten winners in each
Advocates for RepresentationChanging who gets seen, heard and believed in games.Community ChampionsThe ones who hold the lobby together — hosts, mods, hype squads.Content CreateHERsStreams, videos and whole worlds built on their own terms.Cosplay StarCraft, transformation, and zero apologies about who gets to be the character.Esports ExcellenceCompetitive edge — on the server, on the desk, behind the ops.GameHERs IconNames the whole community knows. The standard, set.GameHERs Student Impact AwardCampus organizers turning clubs into pipelines.Impact Through EducationTeaching games as a real career — in classrooms and far beyond.Rising Star AwardNew on the scene, already impossible to ignore.TrailblazeHERs in GamingDoors opened, norms broken, receipts attached.
the group chat

the real party is in our Discord

Celebrate all 100 winners, meet other gamehers, and hear every awards update first — watch parties, game nights and next year's nominations.

how it worked

community first

Three steps, one rule: the community decides. No judges’ pick, no tiebreaks, no pay-to-play.

01 · you nominated

1000+ nominations

Open for seven weeks, self- and peer-nominations weighted the same.

02 · you voted

42,000+ votes

One ballot per member per category. Votes set the shortlist order.

03 · they won

100 winners

Ten per category, announced October 6.

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