MCV Industry Excellence Awards 2009

Thursday 26th February/...The industry’s most successful individuals, companies and brands are today revealed, as magazine publisher Intent Media unveils the finalists for this year’s MCV Industry Excellence Awards.

Taking place on Thursday April 23rd at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London, this year’s MCV Industry Excellence Awards will be the most hotly-contested ever, with 17 accolades up for grabs, across a diverse range of categories covering the entire industry.

Voted for by a panel of opinion formers and leaders within the games business, the MCV Industry Excellence Awards will once again see the entire interactive entertainment industry gathered under one roof to celebrate the highs of the previous 12 months.

Nintendo, EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sega and Activision will battle it out for the Games Publisher Award, whilst individual titles Guitar Hero World Tour, GTA IV, FIFA 09, Fallout 3, Wii Fit and Call of Duty: World At War compete for Game Campaign.

NEW retail and marketing categories are being introduced to the MCV Industry Excellence Awards this year. Every retailer, whatever size or product specialism, can now compete for all five prizes. There is also a greater focus on rewarding shop floor staff.

The final categories for the 2009 event are: High Street Retailer; Online Retailer; Star Store; Store Manager of the Year and Retail Innovation – which see HMV, GAME, Amazon and Play compete alongside independent and non-specialist retailers for the very first time.

“These categories demonstrate the diversity of games retail and give everyone selling games to the public a chance to share in the success of their company or their own store,” comments MCV publisher and Intent Media Managing Director Stuart Dinsey.

“We have also responded to requests from the industry to introduce a Store Manager of the Year award, which we know will be fiercely contested.”

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards are a highlight in the gaming calendar, with over 600 of the business’s top executives attending.

“More and more people attend the MCV Industry Excellence Awards every year,” continues Stuart Dinsey, “which is a real testament to their relevance. Lobbying for this year’s event has been fiercer than ever – so the finalists can feel particularly proud of themselves. Our esteemed panel of industry experts, bosses and bigwigs will now retire to consider their votes, with the winners revealed on April 23rd. It’s going to be a raucous night, made even more special with the help of our fantastic sponsors – and I can’t wait to see the games industry live it up there once again.”

Sponsors of the MCV Industry Excellence Awards 2009 are Nintendo, Codemasters, Gem, Koch Media, Atari and Partnertrans.

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards nominations in full:

RETAIL CATEGORY

Retail Innovation

HMV Gamerbase

HMV Re/Play

Play.com Live

Lovefilm rental

CHIPS accessories

Store Manager

Rupert Banning-Lover – HMV Birmingham Fort

Richard Pascoe – Chips Hereford

Martin Tuckwood – Asda Derby

Mike Barnes/Pearl Robinson – GAME Oxford Street

Gary Noakes - Gameplayer

High Street Retailer

HMV

GAME

Gamestation

Chips

Asda

Star Store

GAME Oxford Street

HMV Liverpool One

Gamestation Birmingham New Street

Chips Dudley

Asda Derby

Online Retailer

Game.co.uk

Shopto.net

Play.com

Amazon

Gameseek

The Hut

PEOPLE & INDUSTRY CATEGORY

Sales Team

Activision Blizzard

Sega

EA

Ubisoft

Microsoft

Nintendo

Sales Triumph

Crisis Core – Square Enix

Imagine range - Ubisoft

Fallout 3 – Bethesda Softworks

Cooking Mama 2 – 505 Games

Carnival Games – 2K Games

Ben 10 – D3P

Games Publisher

Nintendo

EA

Ubisoft

Microsoft

Sega

Activision

Development Team

Lionhead

Blackrock Studios

Codemasters

Rockstar North

Media Molecule

Distribution Team

Koch

Gem

Centresoft

Advantage

Music Box Leisure

PR & MARKETING CATEGORY

New Game Brand

GRID - Codemasters

Pure – Disney Interactive Studios

Dead Space - EA

Professor Layton - Nintendo

Little Big Planet - SCE

PR Team

EA

Microsoft

Capcom

Nintendo/Red

Sony

Ubisoft

Game Campaign

Guitar Hero World Tour – Activision Blizzard

GTA IV - Rockstar

FIFA - EA

Fallout 3 – Bethesda Softworks

Wii Fit - Nintendo

Call Of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard

Marketing Team

EA

Microsoft

Activision Blizzard

Sega

Nintendo

Marketing Innovation

FIFA 4 min ad

All Singing, All Dancing, All Disney campaign

Rising Star Home of Japanese Games

MS New Xbox Live Experience

Sony online community work

RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Darren Bowen – Ubisoft

Andy Yates – Nintendo

John Clark – Sega

Mark Howson – SCE UK

Jonathan Grimes - Microsoft

The MCV Awards 2009 take place on Thursday April 23rd at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London.

For more information about the MCV Awards please contact:

Michael French at Intent Media

01992 535646 / Michael.French@intentmedia.co.uk

For sponsorship and ticket enquiries please contact:

Jodie Holdway at Barrington Harvey

01462 456780 / Jodie.holdway@bhpr.co.uk

About MCV

MCV is the leading publication in its field because it has changed what the industry expects from a trade title. It does not believe in an elitist circulation reaching only the select few, MCV has always been committed to having as broad a circulation as possible. That is why it currently publishes over 11,000 copies every week. MCV covers all sectors of the market equally, from retail to publishing, from international markets to product reviews and software development. MCV always publishes a minimum of 40 pages, with major emphasis on exclusive breaking news and informed analysis.

Issued by: Barrington Harvey, Troopers Yard, Bancroft, Hitchin, Herts SG5 1JW