The second edition of the Metaverse Entertainment World Summit and Awards (MEWS) took place on May 3-5, 2023, bringing together some of the biggest names in the metaverse world.

The MEWS Awards ceremony on May 4 was the highlight of the event, recognising outstanding achievements in the metaverse and web3 industry. The winners were selected by a distinguished jury of 12 acclaimed industry leaders, including web3 experts, with all Monaco Jury members present during the Gala: Diego Bonaventura, Head of Digital Economy in Monaco, An Dang Duy, CIO World Athletics, and Steven Saltzman, Co-Founder of the MEWS.

The event started with a truly magical performance by Les French Twins, the first virtual reality artists worldwide who are now in the metaverse, and that captivated and left the audience completely awe-struck.

The awards ceremony featured world-renowned talent, with the first award presented by HSH Prince Albert in the sports category, which was given to John Linden, CEO of Mythical Games for his achievements in creating the largest metaverse user categories, and for his new game which is by now the Number One download in the Apple store, NFL Rivals.

The Community Award was presented to the NFT collection called WOW, World of Women, a collection of 10,000 NFTs that gives NfT holders access to a network of artists, creators, entrepreneurs and executives. Winner Adelina Mettera was delighted to accept the award in the name of the large NfT community. WoW’s vision is to build an inclusive web3 through its collection and community, and to increase female representation in web3, as according to research published in Nov. 2021, female artists are only accounted for just five percent of all NFT art sales.

The Music award was presented by the MEWS co-founder Steven Saltzman, and Winner Samantha Tauber, who‘s artist name VNCCII was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, was rewarded for her outstanding achievement as Music Avatar, and the general progress of music in the metaverse. Samantha, a young talent originally from Australia, living in London, was absolutely touched, also as her performance on May 3 on the Terrace de Midi in Hotel Hermitage was equally an unforgettable moment for her as well as for Monaco, having had its first avatar music performance.

PHOTOS: Top, MEWS co-founder Steven Saltzman, HSH Prince Albert, and MEWS co-founder Carolin Jauss, centre, MEWS co-founder Steven Saltzman. Ed Wright Images