Overview
Nominations close at COB 24 October 2008. No submissions will be received or acknowledged after this date.
The GDAA Game Developer Awards are the annual awards for games developed by Australian or New Zealand game developers. The Awards are managed by the Game Developers Association of Australia (GDAA), with nominations encouraged in the lead-up to the Game Connect: Asia Pacific 2008 Conference and Trade Show.
Categories
- Best Game
- Best New Start-Up (Adam Lancman Award)
- Best Console title
- Best PC title
- Best Handheld title
- Best Mobile title
- Best Gameplay
- Best Graphics
- Best Audio
Eligibility Criteria
- Only games developed in Australia and New Zealand that will have been released between 1 November 2007 and 31 October 2008 are eligible.
- To be eligible for the Award for Best New Start-Up, a studio must have no prior game releases.
- Eligible nominators must provide a valid email address.
- Awards committee members shall have no pecuniary or other interest in a nominee, or if so will disclose this interest and abstain from any votes.
- The nominee or a representative must be present at the Conference Awards Dinner to accept the award(s).
- Only games developed by GDAA member companies are immediately eligible for entry to the Awards. Entries by members are on the condition that they are fully paid up members as at the time of nominating.
- Non-members wishing to enter may submit an entry at a fee of $1,100 per game per category.
Entry Fee
For GDAA members, there is a non-refundable administration entry fee of $50.00 per game entered.
Judging
All winners will be selected by the GDAA Awards Committee based on nominations received during the nomination period. The GDAA Award Committee comprises external experts, with a strong knowledge of the game development industry.
The GDAA Awards Committee reserve the right to change the nominee's nominated category to an alternative category if considered more suitable by the judging panel.
There will be one winner per category. Should entries not meet an acceptable standard in a particular category the GDAA Awards Committee reserves the right not to select a finalist and/or winner. The decisions of the judging panel are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Awards Presentation
The finalists and winners of the GDAA Game Developer Awards will be announced at the Game Connect: Asia Pacific Conference and Awards Dinner. This will take place on Friday, 21 November 2008. The Dinner will be a formal event attended by up to 300 delegates and VIP guests.
The top two (2) finalists from each category will be notified via e-mail from Monday 20th October 2008. Finalists will need to purchase Gala Award Dinner tickets online through the conference website when registering.
Prizes
All winners will receive a trophy and acknowledgement in press release and on the official GCAP 08 website at www.gameconnectap.com
How To Nominate
Nominations will open from 11 September 2008 and close at COB 24 October 2008.
During these dates, eligible nominators can submit their nominations to the GDAA by emailing Mike McNabb at: mmcnabb@gdaa.com.au
Nominees Must Submit In Email:
- A short supporting statement (max. 1 page) indicating:
* Which award(s) the game is being nominated for
* An overall description of the game.
* Key features
* Merits of the game and why it should win
- Shortlisted nominees will then be asked to submit:
* Three copies of the game, playable demo or gameplay video of their game in a format that can be distributed to three Awards Committee members. (If this is not possible, special arrangements must be made with the GDAA CEO before the closing date for nominations.)
Buying awards?
"Non-members wishing to enter may submit an entry at a fee of $1,100 per game per category."
How can they justify this cost? Setting up an award where nominees have to *pay* for their game to be considered is hardly helping, supporting, or encouraging our small industry in Australia, and it turns the event into one big wank-off between pals and buddies that call all pat each other on the back.
The GDAA website doesn't list Krome, THQ, Pandemic (although, maybe they do fall under "Electronic Arts" now?), End Game or NNOOO to name a few, who are all significant Australian developers in their own right. Without a comprehensive inclusion of all the games that have been developed in Australia over the past 12 months, how on Earth can this classed as anything more than an expensive reach-around?
The companies you have
The companies you have listed are indeed significant Australian developers but they are not paying members of the GDAA. Considering it is a GDAA sponsored awards ceremony I'm not surprised they are limiting it to only their members.
It's like someone choosing not to be in a union and not paying the union fees but expecting all the benefits and rewards that union then works hard to give you.
Compensating GDAA efforts
I don't see why this is a problem. The GDAA does a shitload of work for the industry, mostly done on a volunteer basis by people from the member companies and especially Tom Crago. Say what you want about him (as people here usually do), the amount of work he does in addition to his day job is phenomenal. Why should companies that couldn't be bothered supporting the GDAA with their time and membership fees get a free ride on the awards? They are called the GDAA Awards, after all. It's not like they said they can't enter at all.
The only exception I would make would be to make the Best New Startup award free for anyone to enter.
I am curious about the work
I am curious about the work the GDAA does for the Australian community.
Aka from the outsider perspective they basically are mostly been lobbying for the film rebate applied to games as well.
I imagine the companies that aren't members of the GDAA aren't that interested in the award ceremony as well.
$1100 is a bit steep to
$1100 is a bit steep to attract the unsigned indie crowd me thinks....