 The 2019 Game Awards are upon us, providing a flurry of game news and a celebration of the successes of the past year. The Game Awards are a relatively new institution, but they build upon a long legacy of awarding games developers for their achievements. While many talented people work hard to create these award ceremonies, the main driving force behind their existence is games journalist Jeff Kealy, who hosts the ceremony. The Game Awards are something of a dream come true for Jeff. In 2013, he risked everything by striving to create an award ceremony that felt as respectable and noteworthy as the Oscars. How well he achieved this is up for debate, but nonetheless, this is the story of his lifelong quest to pay proper tribute to gaming superstars. As a young boy growing up in the 80s, Jeff Kealy was just the right age to fall in love with computer games. His first experiences involved playing adventure titles from Lucas Arts and Sierra, and he was enthusiastic about analysing their strengths and weaknesses. At age 12, he wrote a letter to Sierra online, asking to know more about how they made games. In response, he received an enticing offer. Jeff, we love your enthusiasm for Sierra and are so excited you are a big fan. We are wondering if you would like to beta test one of our upcoming titles. Naturally, Jeff was thrilled. He reviewed the beta discs for EcoQuest 2 on MS-DOS, giving Sierra his feedback on the half-built game. Jeff began to discover the power of the internet in discussing games. He posted regularly on a variety of different bulletin boards and early internet forums, giving his opinion on the popular games of the time. One day, an editor of a gaming magazine came across Jeff's posts, and impressed by his knowledge of games and his writing talent, offered him a job writing previews for upcoming titles. At around this time, at just age 14, Jeff was also involved in organising an early video game awards show. Cybermania 94 was hosted by Leslie Nielsen and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and as it was organised by a friend of Jeff's family, he was asked to write the script for William Shatner as he announced the winner of an award. The whole affair wasn't entirely to Jeff's liking. It was peak 90s, and was more of a comedy special than a legitimate award ceremony. Jeff found himself wishing that there was a real award ceremony for games, something akin to the Oscars that made a genuine effort to highlight talent and achievement in the industry. Nevertheless, it was clear that the event changed the course of Jeff's life. He said later, Imagine being a 14 year old kid at this event going with the guy who created Doom and Myst and all these big games in the early 1990s. It made a big impression on me. It made me feel like the star of something special, and it introduced me to the people behind the games. Jeff wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life. Games journalism was fun, but was it really a career? He studied at the University of Southern California, but before going through with his plan of attending law school, he was offered a role as a host of a weekly gaming talk show called G4 TV. From this, he moved on to host the Spike TV show Gamehead, which later became GameTrailers TV. By this point, his plans of attending law school had long since disappeared. Working at Spike meant producing the Spike Video Game Awards. Jeff poured his heart and soul into the annual event, trying to create a meaningful awards ceremony that earnestly reflected the successes of video games developers. Jeff was proud of his work on this show, but it always involved compromise to attract a mainstream television audience. After ten years, his bosses at Spike wanted to lean into this even more. For 2013, the show was renamed VGX, and the tone changed dramatically, making the ceremony more comical and more commercial. Jeff felt that it was time to move on. He decided that if he really wanted to create the kind of game awards that he imagined in his head, he needed to do it himself. At great personal risk, he struck out on his own, divorced from any television network, in an effort to create an online-only gaming awards ceremony. Putting things together this first year was incredibly difficult. Jeff had to work personally with his connections within Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and other companies to make things happen. Thankfully, after a prolific career as a journalist, he was respected enough that these companies were willing to support him. Finding a platform for the awards was easy. Jeff refused to entertain the idea of putting the show on traditional television, instead opting to stream it online. Finding a location to film the awards ceremony was more difficult. Things didn't really come together until the very last minute, thanks to pop sensation Britney Spears. Britney was taking a week off from her regular show at the Planet Hollywood Axis Theatre in Las Vegas, so Jeff asked if he could use her stage, and she agreed. Still, many things were up in the air. Broadcasting a live show was not easy. Guest stars such as Kiefer Sutherland only confirmed their availability a few days before the show, and due to some problems with sound mixing, Jeff had to stall for time during the broadcast to give musicians time to get ready for their performances. Nevertheless, as hectic and chaotic as it might have been, the first game awards was a huge hit, drawing in crowds of millions. Jeff might have struggled, but his lifetime of work in the game's media paid off, and he was able to accomplish his goal. Now, as we approach the sixth game awards, it's nice to remember just how much work goes into making these shows a reality. They are the result of many dedicated gaming enthusiasts all coming together in recognition of the wonderful gaming moments that have been enjoyed over the course of the year. The moral of the story is that if you do what you love, you might not have an easy time of things, but you'll certainly enjoy yourself along the way.