A former student in the St. Clair College Esports program and Windsor local has won his first-ever Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Esports Championship Coverage for the VALORANT Champion 2024 Grand Final broadcast.
Nicholas Tesolin, better known in the esports world as "Yehty," is an in-game director and Free Cam Observer for VALORANT.
Tesolin was part of a broadcast team of 88 members which produced the VALORANT Champions 2024 Grand Final event held in Seoul, South Korea. The event saw peak viewership of more than 1.4 million.
The win was the first-ever Sports Emmy award for VALORANT in the category.
"It feels quite unreal," said Tesolin. "It shows how recognized esports is getting in the eyes of mainstream entertainment. The fact that there are categories dedicated to esports-related projects is wonderful and I am so proud to be one of the first few people who have gotten to achieve that accomplishment within this industry."
Prior to his Emmy win, Tesolin was a student in the award-winning Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship program at St. Clair College. He was a member of the Saints Esports Broadcast team in 2019-20, where he cut his teeth observing many esports titles.
"I almost didn't expect it, going into the industry, that this could come about," Tesolin added.
"Coming from film studies, if you asked me seven years ago if I was going to work towards an Emmy, I would've thought it would be in traditional television or film first and not something related to video games. But to say I won an Emmy because of a video game is quite a surreal statement."
Observing VALORANT has taken Tesolin around the world, including Iceland, Germany, Denmark, Japan, Korea, China, Ireland, Brazil, Spain, Turkey, Thailand, and soon Paris, France, for VALORANT Champions 2025 this September.
The Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship program equips students with the necessary skills and knowledge to thrive in the dynamic and fast-paced world of esports, which is blossoming into a multi-billion-dollar industry.
In addition to traditional classroom learning, students receive ample opportunities to apply their knowledge through hands-on experiences. From planning and organizing large-scale esports events to getting a taste of what it's like to work in the industry, students gain real-world insights and experience, positioning them for success in the rapidly growing industry.
"From its inception, the Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship program was built to prepare students for jobs in the esports industry, but this achievement goes way beyond what we could have expected from one our students so soon after program launch," said Shaun Byrne, Esports Director and Coordinator of the Esports academic program. "We're very proud of Nicholas and happy to have him now serving as an inspiration for esports students coming up through the program behind him."
