Shacknews Person of the Year 2020 - Steven Spohn

The gaming world is often criticized, rightfully so, for being a toxic and exclusionary space. However, there are people that put all of their effort into making gaming more inclusive for everyone. One name that shines like a beacon of hope in the gaming community is that of Steven Spohn. 

COO of the AbleGamers Charity, Steven Spohn has spent years raising awareness and speaking up for disabled people in the gaming community. This year, Spohn began a campaign to raise $1 million for the charity. His work was also enough to garner the attention of movie star Ryan Reynolds, who joined Spohn for a video message to spread support for AbleGamers.

Steven Spohn spent so much of 2020 advocating for gamers with disabilities and raising awareness. Back in November, he hosted the first annual Video Game Accessibility Awards with Alanah Pearce, where he highlighted some of the games and developers that best handled accessibility in 2020. 

What’s most exciting, is that he’s just getting started. We expect to see Steven continue being the huge voice that he is, and it wouldn’t come as any shock if he’s up for this award again in 2021. Steven Spohn’s tireless work to create a better, more inclusive gaming space for everybody earns him Shacknews’ 2020 Person of the Year award.

Check out the other winners from The Shacknews Awards 2020 in our Year of the Games: 2020 article.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_