The Maven Awards: poker awards for the women at the table
In February 2010 Woman Poker Player Magazine announced the Poker Maven Awards: a publicly nominated set of awards recognising women players and the companies that made poker more welcoming to them. This site is an independent record of what the awards were.
- 13 Feb 2010Woman Poker Player Magazine, based in New Westminster, British Columbia, announces the awards with 15 categories.
- Feb – 31 Mar 2010Public nominations are open on the awards website.
- June 2010Three nominees per category are announced. PokerNews covers it in "The Nightly Turbo".
- June – 30 Sep 2010Public voting.
Why they existed
Editing manager Maryann Morrison said she wanted "to push the poker industry to start thinking more about the women who play". At the June announcement the organisers added that more women were winning major tournaments than ever before. They wanted the awards to raise the profile of women in poker and push sites and card rooms to do more for female players.
That is why several categories judged the industry, not the players: the most female-friendly online poker room, and the poker employee who did most to help women's poker grow. Categories & voting lists every category the press reports name.
The name
When PokerNews covered the shortlist it joked that readers might wonder whether "The Maven" was now handing out awards, then clarified that the awards belonged to Woman Poker Player Magazine.
What came next
The awards were covered beyond North America too, including by PokerStrategy's Polish edition. The lasting recognition for women in poker has since come from elsewhere: the WSOP Ladies Championship, which dates back to 1977, and the Women in Poker Hall of Fame (see Milestones).
Women's events still sit alongside the open schedules at most big series; upcoming dates and buy-ins are listed in Poker-in's tournament calendar.