Today the private games industry community Gaming Insiders announced the official winners of the 2014 Gaming Insiders 30.

The award highlights the key professionals who will have the greatest creative, cultural or commercial impact on the games industry during the next twelve months.

Nominations are submitted by games industry professionals who are members of Gaming Insiders.

The winners are given a free pass to the 2014 Gaming Insiders Summit (normally $995) as well as a ticket to a dinner hosted the night prior to the Summit.

2014's winners

Several trends tie together the winners of this year's awards:

Kelly Wallick of Indie Megabooth, Stephanie Barish of IndieCade, and Adam Saltsman of Finji Games were all recognized for their effort to unite and guide the still-burgeoning indie games movement.

Those pushing innovative publishing strategies were also recognized: Obsidian Entertainment's Chris Avellone - called "the most Kickstarted man in gaming" by Gaming Insiders - and Cloud Imperium's Chris Roberts have done much for crowdfunded games.

Several winners were chosen based on their contributions to the culture surrounding games and the games industry.

Meggan Scavio was given special recognition for using her power as general manager of GDC to push diversity and inclusiveness issues to the forefront of industry conversations.

And, of course, there's Feminist Frequency's Anita Sarkeesian, dubbed by Gaming Insiders as "the most important critic videogames have ever had".

Few critical voices are as widely recognized as Sarkeesian's, and Gaming Insiders writes that "Sarkeesian’s tens of thousands of supporters-and her vitriolic detractors-prove that her message strikes a chord".

The Gaming Insiders Summit will take place on 15 October 2014 in San Francisco, and will feature talks from games industry leaders including Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, Disney Interactive president James Pitaro, and Google Play's Bob Meese.

You can find out more details about 2014 Gaming Insiders Summit at its website.