Gotland Game Awards 2010
500 students to present their efforts this week in Sweden, with €300,000 in prizes to be bagged.
The first game education in Northern Europe (GAME) at the University of Gotland in Sweden is hosting their biggest game event yet. At the GotlandGame Awards (GGA), 7th to 8th of June 2010, over 500 game students compete with the games they have developed over the past year. Many innovative games are presented to a jury that consists of representatives from both universities abroad as well as some of the world's most successful game companies.
At Gotland Game Awards the result of one year’s hard work by the students will be presented. The University of Gotland helps the students by providing computers, software, office space, contacts within the industry and whatever else they might need to make sure that their opportunities to get a job or start a successful company are as high as possible when they graduate.-"The award ceremony is highly motivating for us students. The school gives us an opportunity to take the theory we've learned and put it into practice and getting to show off our games to the public is incredibly exciting" Sara Pauni says, one of the students participating in this year’s GGA.
This year people from many of the biggest game developer studios in the world will come, Lionhead, Microsoft, Starbreeze and Paradox, just to name a few, to play and give feedback on the games. -"The school is well known by these companies as some of their employees used to study with us before entering the world of game development." says Don Geyer, head of the GAME Design programs.
The students will be competing for 18 different categories spanning from “Best XNA Game”, to “Best Serious Game”. One of the most important awards is the UNICEF Award for Human Rights. This year, sponsors to the event will donate gifts with a total value of over 300 000€ to support the students.
These gifts range from games and software to journeys all over the world, where the students will be able to show off their games at some of the biggest game events in the world.
There are also special categories for the students creating computer animated movies. Last year Disney Pixar visited GGA to give feedback on the students’ projects and hold seminars. This year John Klepper and Steven Ilous, who were involved in creating the special effects for The Matrix Trilogy, will participate in the event.
In the shadows of E3, Gotland Game Awards is a large event that attracts thousands of visitors as well as industry leaders. Some of the future seeds of E3 will starts to grow here.
---- END OF PRESS RELEASE----
Event webpage: http://gotlandgameawards.com/gga10/
Press material (pictures, logotype etc):
www.gotlandgameawards.com/gga10/press/
The press release in pdf format:
http://www.gotlandgameawards.se/gga10/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/gga_2010_press_eng.pdf
Last years event: www.gotlandgameawards.com/gga09/