It was another award-winning year for the Saints Esports program at the Annual National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) awards, where St. Clair College took home three honours among several finalist nominations.
Adrian Malhiers, Valerie Shih-Lau and Owen Mantha, pictured here on July 29, 2025, all scooped up awards at the 2025 National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) awards. (Rich Garton/St. Clair College)
The Saints were winners in the following categories:
- Outstanding Marketing Team
- Outstanding Production Team
- Student Leadership Award - Adrian Malhiers
"It's always an incredible feeling to be recognized by your peers," said St. Clair's Assistant Esports Director Chris Funston. "Our goal is to always do as much as we can for our students, if we can win some awards while doing it, that is just a cherry on top."
Two of the awards granted to St. Clair this year are in large part due to the efforts of students in the Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship program: Second-year student Adrian Malhiers and recent graduate and new Production and Broadcast Manager, Owen Mantha.
"It means a lot. I'm honoured to even be considered for the award, let alone win it, and to be on the same list as so many other student leaders and competitive leaders as well," said Malhiers, 21, who came to Canada a year ago from India.
"It's truly been a blessing to be in this space. Coming from India to here and now being able to do all this on a regular basis, is just amazing," he said. "I just love it. I don't know how to say it, describe it, except I just love doing it. I get to do something I love and spend time with others in this space and gain experience from it. It's a dream job."
Malhiers was deeply involved in many Collegiate and professional events hosted at St. Clair College over the past year.
"I'm trying to take lead whenever I can, but also letting others do things, and just being a good team player," Malhiers said. "In a sense, I feel like that that's what leadership means to me, and I feel like that kind of encompasses what this award is as well."
21-year-old Adrian Malhiers, a student in the Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship program at St. Clair College, standing outside the Nexus Arena at St. Clair on July 29, 2025. (Rich Garton/St. Clair College)
Owen Mantha, 23, also cut his teeth during his time in the Esports program, taking opportunities for experiential learning both within and outside the College. In June, Mantha was named the new Production and Broadcast Manager for Saints Esports.
"Before I came to St. Clair, I had no idea what I wanted to do initially," Mantha said, before his professors pointed him towards his skillset. "The Esports program really helped me realize my passion through broadcast and production, and it's really rewarding to come up through the program and now get to work with St. Clair. Providing that value to future students is obviously amazing."
Mantha is born and raised in Windsor and while he's travelled for previous experiences, he's thankful to be close to home doing what he loves.
Not resting on his laurels, Mantha hopes to elevate the program even further to help build the talent of tomorrow.
"I want to keep improving. There's a lot of things that I want to implement and push the production as far as I can to give students real world experience of what it's going to be like to actually work in a production outside of the collegiate atmosphere," Mantha said. "It feels really nice to contribute to that success."
"And hopefully we can keep pushing, keep going forward."
Valerie Shih-Lau, the Saints Marketing and Events Manager, was one of the driving forces behind both Saints Esports Marketing and Production teams this past year.
"Valerie was without a doubt our MVP this year," added Funston. "She went above and beyond to provide students with incredible learning opportunities through Marketing, Events and Broadcasting this year. Those awards belong to her and her amazing team."
St. Clair was also a finalist in these categories:
- Program of the Year
- Assistant Esports Director of the Year - Chris Funston
- Support Staff of the Year - Valerie Shih-Lau
- Broadcast Producer of the Year - Adrian Malhiers and Owen Parker
- Broadcast Talent of the Year - Theodor Ivaniv
- Social Media Producer of the Year - Alexa Kovacevich
- Outstanding Event of the Year - Saints Gauntlet Series
- Educator of the Year - Shaun Byrne
The NACE Awards were held at the University of Texas at Dallas during the annual NACE Convention from July 23 to 25, 2025.
NACE is the only nonprofit membership association of colleges and universities with varsity esports programs. 200 schools across North America compete for NACE championships every year across a variety of esports titles.
