IGF Judges, Jury, and Rules
Submissions are currently closed
2025 Key Dates
August 21, 2024 |
Submissions Open |
September 30, 2024 |
Submissions Deadline |
January 2025 |
Finalists Announced |
March 17 - March 21, 2025 |
Game Developers Conference 2025 |
March 17 - March 18, 2025 |
Indie Games Summit @ GDC |
March 19 - March 21, 2025 |
IGF Pavilion @ GDC |
March 19, 2025 |
IGF Awards Ceremony |
2025 Entry Requirements Summary
Eligibility |
Open to all independent game developers (see specific rules below). |
Entry Fee |
$75 (regular), $25 (student) |
Submission Link |
Official 2025 IGF Competition Rules
The Independent Games Festival (IGF)competition (the “Contest”) is being sponsored by Informa (the “Sponsor”) in connection with the Game Developers Conference (GDC) to be held March 17 - March 21, 2025, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California (the “Conference”). Each person or entity who enters the Contest (each, an “Entrant”) agrees to abide by the terms of these Official Rules and by the decisions of the Sponsor and its judges, which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to the Contest.
HOW TO ENTER:
To enter the Contest, an Entrant who is otherwise eligible under these Official Rules must submitall of the following materials at any time between 12:00 am PDT on August 21, 2024 and 11:59 pm PDT on September 30, 2024 (the “Entry Deadline”):
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A properly completed official entry form, located on the Contest application page of Sponsor’s website, submit.igf.com(the “Contest Website”).
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A digital copy of the game being entered (an “Entered Game”), submitted by uploading an initial version of the title to the official IGF submission site, by sharing an access code for an online storefront, or by posting a URL with a playable web game.
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A non-refundable fee of $75* for general entries or $25** for student entries.
*Independent Games Festival (IGF) organizers would like to encourage and engage with submissions from game developers making interesting or experimental works who, because of the fee, might not enter the contest. Those creators interested in applying for a waiver of the full $75 general entry fee or $25 student entry fee can submit initial details on their game using this form. Entries should be submitted by September 23, 2024. If selected, entrants will be given a code to submit their game to IGF 2025. Please reach out to IGF Chairperson Shawn Pierre with any questions or concerns.
**Entrants who were part-time or full-time college or high school students during the spring and/or summer 2024 semester (or local equivalent) prior to, or, who are current part-time or full-time college or high school students during the fall 2024 semester at the time they are submitting their entry, will have the $75 fee reduced to a $25 non-refundable fee, which must be submitted by credit card on the Contest Website. Student entries are additionally eligible for the Best Student Game award, in addition to all other IGF awards. Non-student entrants are not eligible for the Best Student Game award. Please see the "RESTRICTIONS/ELIBILITY" section below for more information on student entries.
All physical entry materials become the property of the Sponsor and will not be returned (no IP rights are affected).
All Entrants will have some of their submission information listed on the igf.com website after the Entry Deadline has passed, in the month of January 2025. The information listed will include the game title, creator, school name (if applicable), an image from the game, a link to the game website, the description of the game, and a video link.
The IGF Competition is open to independent games developed on PC, console, mobile, handheld platforms, VR, and other platforms. Please contact the event organizers if your game uses a platform that is less widely available.
FINALIST SELECTION PROCESS/NOTIFICATION:
Entered Games will initially be evaluated by a selection of judges comprised of a total of 250-300 individuals picked by the Sponsor (the “Nominating Committee”). Members of the Nominating Committee may include independent and 'mainstream' professional game designers, notable indie-friendly video game journalists, and other individuals familiar with video game design.
The Nominating Committee will review the Entered Games and select finalists during approximately the period from the Entry Deadline to November 2024 (the “Nominating Period”) for all categories except the Audience Award and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Each member of the Nominating Committee will have the option to recommend each Entered Game in each of the following categories (each, a “Category”) except for the Audience Award and Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
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Seumas McNally Grand Prize: This Category is open to all Finalist games and are nominated by the Finalist Committee. Nominations will be based on the overall innovation, quality, impressiveness, and enjoyability of each Finalist game.
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Audience Award: The Audience Award winner is selected from the full list of finalist games from every main category except for the alt.ctrl.GDC Award through a vote open to all GDC attendees and members of the public.
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Excellence in Audio: Nominations will be based on the quality and impressiveness of each Entered Game's music, voice acting, and sound effects.
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Excellence in Design: Nominations will be based on the quality and execution of each Entered Game's design, including game mechanic design, level design, and difficulty balance.
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Excellence in Narrative: Nominations will be based on quality and impressiveness of each Entered Game's storytelling - including but not limited to scenario, plot construction, story, and dialogue.
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Nuovo Award: Nominations will be based on how each Entered Game fearlessly executes a challenging, unusual, or idiosyncratic approach to game making, takes substantive risks, and/or makes the Nominating Committee and Finalist Committee think differently about video games as a medium.
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Excellence in Visual Art: Nominations will be based on the quality and impressiveness of each Entered Game's appearance and visual effects.
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Best Student Game: Nominations will be based on the overall quality, impressiveness, and enjoyability of the Entered Game.
Potential Finalists will then be further evaluated by a panel of approximately seven (7) to ten (10) jurors for each category, all appointed by the Sponsor (the “Finalist Committee”). Members of the Finalist Committee may include independent and 'mainstream' professional game designers, notable indie-friendly video game journalists, and other individuals familiar with video game design, and will be chosen for their professional specialization or other suitability in each Category except for the Audience Award and Seumas McNally Grand Prize between approximately November 2024 and December 2024.
During that time, the Finalist Committee for each category will evaluate all entries, with special attention given to those highlighted by the Nominating Committee. The six [6] Entered Games receiving the most votes from the Finalist Committee in each Category (the Nuovo Award Category will include eight [8] nominations) except for the Audience Award and Seumas McNally Grand Prize will qualify as a “Finalist Game." Finally, all members of the Finalist Committee across each Category will come together to nominate Finalists for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize from all previously decided finalists in each category except for the Audience Award.
In or around the beginning of January 2025, the Sponsor will notify each Entrant that the Entrant’s Entered Game was determined to be a Finalist Game (each such Entrant, a “Finalist”).
FINALIST REQUIREMENTS:
Any Finalist that does not satisfy all of the requirements of this section may be disqualified, and the Sponsor may select an alternate Finalist Game from the remaining Entered Games.
Each Finalist will be required to exhibit its Finalist Game at the Conference. Exhibition duties will include: (i) demonstrating the Finalist Game during specified hours and (ii) conducting oneself in a manner that upholds the good name and reputation of Sponsor, the Conference, and the Contest. Sponsor will provide a means to display the Finalist game at the Conference in the IGF Pavilion. Attendance at Contest and Conference is not required to become a finalist or winner.
Any individual Finalist who is unable to attend may choose to officially nominate a proxy attendee (the name and contact details of which to be electronically mailed to the organizer within fourteen (14) days after notification of nomination has been sent to the Finalist). Proxy attendees must perform the same duties as the actual Finalists.
Each Finalist will receive a $1,000 travel stipend, then will be responsible for all other costs of their own travel, meals, accommodations, and equipment in connection with the Contest and the Conference.
FINALIST PRIZES:
Each Finalist will receive:
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Up to Two (2) GDC All Access passes (or equivalent) to the Conference
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Up to Five (5) Exhibitor Passes (or equivalent) to allow access to the GDC Expo Floor to showcase their games.
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A mention in the IGF Awards Show program; and
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Permission to use a version of the official Contest name and Finalist laurel in promotional materials relating to the Finalist Game.
The Finalist prizes will be made available to each Finalist after receipt of the declaration and release mentioned in the Finalist Requirements section of these Official Rules.
WINNER SELECTION PROCESS:
Each member of the Finalist Committee will vote for one or multiple titles from the Finalist Games in each Category except for the Audience Award in approximately December 2024. The Finalist Game with the most votes in each Category is the “Winning Game” for that Category. In addition, members of the public and prospective Conference attendees (the "Public Voter") will select their favorite Finalist Game as a Winning Game in an additional Category called the Audience Award via online voting that is open to the public.
All Winning Games will be announced at the Conference on March 19, 2025.
WINNER PRIZES:
Each Finalist who submits the Winning Game in a Category (each, a “Winner”) will receive the prize indicated below for that Category:
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Seumas McNally Grand Prize - $10,000
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Audience Award - $2,000
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Excellence in Audio - $2,000
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Excellence in Design - $2,000
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Excellence in Narrative - $2,000
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Nuovo Award - $2,000
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Excellence in Visual Art - $,2000
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Best Student Game - $2,000
In addition to the monetary prizes, each Winner will receive an award trophy and a license to use a version of the official Contest name and winner laurel in promotional materials relating to the Winning Game.
The Seumas McNally Grand Prize Winner also will receive three (3) GDC All Access Passes (or equivalent) to the 2026 Game Developers Conference.
PRIZE TERMS:
All monetary amounts in these Official Rules are indicated in United States dollars and all monetary prizes will be awarded in the form of direct deposits in United States dollars. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute any non-monetary prizes with items of equal or greater value. Each Finalist and Winner will be solely responsible for bearing any income or other taxes, fees, or other costs relating to any prize.
All physical prizes will be awarded at the Conference during the Award ceremony where possible. It is possible that some or all Winners may be offered gifts from Conference sponsors or other third parties. Sponsor makes no representation or warranty that any such gifts will be offered or received, does not endorse any such gifts, and is in no way responsible for any such gifts.
PRIOR CONTESTS:
Sponsor does not know how many games will be entered in the Contest. However, participation in the Main IGF Competition held by the Sponsor over previous years was as follows: 2024: - 519 games entered; 2023 - 524 games entered; 2022 - 408 games entered; 2021 - 504 games entered.
RESTRICTIONS/ELIGIBILITY:
The Contest is open only to business entities and to individuals who are 18 years or older, in each case who have access to the Internet on or before August 21, 2024.
Please note the the Organizer has restricted business with the following countries and territories: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Russia, Russian occupied territories of Ukraine (Crimea, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia), Syria, and Venezuela. Please contact Senior Event Producer Sarah Zilonis if you have questions.
STUDENT REQUIREMENTS:
For all part-time or full-time college or high school students during the Spring and/or summer 2024 semester (or local equivalent) prior to, or, who are current part-time or full-time college or high school students during the fall 2024 semester at the time they are submitting their entry will have the $75 fee reduced to a $25 non-refundable fee. If a student game has been developed with significant portions of the assets contributed by non-students, it is not eligible for entry as a student game. If entrants to the Contest are in doubt about the amount of externally created or contributed content in their game, please contact the organizers for clarification.
The Sponsor, Nominating Committee, and Finalist Committee reserve the right to refuse any game at its sole discretion. Should a game be deemed ineligible as a student entry, the Entrant will be able to enter the game for all other major award categories.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
Individuals under the age of 18 years must provide evidence of parent or legal guardian consent satisfactory to Sponsor. Sponsor, parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and its advertising, promotion, and production agencies, as well as employees of any of the foregoing, members of such employees' immediate families (including spouse, parents, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, step-children, step-parents and in-laws), and persons with whom such employees are domiciled, are not eligible. In addition to the foregoing general eligibility requirements, the following additional requirements must be met:
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Independently Created:The Nominating Committee and Finalist Committee must be confident that the submitted game was created in the 'indie spirit' by an independent game developer, fulfilling the question asked on the entry form. The Nominating Committee and Finalist Committee reserve the right to refuse any game at its sole discretion.
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Rights:Before submitting an Entered Game, the Entrant must have obtained the written permission of all persons or entities having any rights in the Entered Game.
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Updates:Entered Game updates are permitted during the Nominating Period. Patched updates from Entrants via the web portal will be permitted throughout the judging process. However, Sponsor does not guarantee the viewing or application of every patch/update by the Nominating Committee or Finalist Committee.
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State of Development: All Entered Games must either be currently released, or be substantially feature-complete. You must have intent, at the time of submission, to release the game within 12 months of the IGF Ceremony on March 19, 2025, if your game is not already released or publicly playable.
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Platform:Entered Games may run on any platform (Windows, Mac, console, mobile/handheld, etc.). We cannot guarantee that the Nominating Committee or Finalist Committee will have access to any special hardware required to play your game.
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Finalists:Finalist Games from previous years are not eligible for re-submission into the Competition. This does not apply to honorable mentions.
RELEASE:
By entering the Contest, each Entrant releases and holds harmless Sponsor, its parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and each of their respective officers, directors, agents, and employees from any and all responsibility or liability arising out of or relating to: (i) any personal injury, death, property (including computer) damage, or other loss or claim of any kind arising from or in connection with any violation of these Official Rules; the Contest, the Conference or any Entered Game; the acceptance, possession, or use of any prize; or any travel required by the Contest; (ii) any entry or other materials that have been tampered with, that are misdirected, incomplete, incorrect, non-conforming, corrupt, lost, late, or ineligible, or, with respect to mail-in entries or materials, that are sent postage due; and (iii) computer, telephone, cable, satellite, network, hardware, software, or other technical malfunctions or failures; garbled or jumbled transmissions; Internet or website inaccessibility or delays; printing or typographical errors in any Contest or Conference materials; or any other technical or human errors occurring in connection with the Contest or Conference.
By entering the Contest, each Entrant consents to the use of the Entrant's name, photograph and likeness (if an individual), logo (if any), state of residence, and Entered Game for advertising, promotion, marketing, and administration of the Contest and Conference without additional compensation, to the extent permitted by law. Each entrant further agrees that Sponsor may use any and all information collected through the Contest, including the Entrant's name and contact information, for marketing or other purposes whether or not related to the Contest, to the extent permitted by law and Sponsor's privacy policy, which may be found on the Contest Website.
REPRESENTATIONS:
By entering the Contest, each individualsubmitting entry materials (including an Entered Game) represents and warrants to Sponsor that:
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such individual either is the Entrant (if the Entrant is an individual) or is a fully authorized representative of the Entrant (if the Entrant is a business entity);
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the Entrant and the Entered Game fully comply with all eligibility requirements and all other provisions of these Official Rules;
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in preparing the Entered Game and entering and participating in the Contest and the Conference, the Entrant has complied and will comply in all respects with all applicable laws, regulations, and rules and has not violated nor will violate any agreement or understanding by which it is bound, including any confidentiality, employment, consulting, intellectual property assignment, or license agreement;
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the Entered Game consists entirely of Entrant's own original work or of work to which Entrant has all necessary rights; and
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neither the Entered Game nor the duplication, use, display, performance, or distribution of the Entered Game will infringe or misappropriate any intellectual property or other proprietary rights of any person or entity.
TERMINATION:
Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Contest in its sole and absolute discretion if the Contest becomes technically corrupted or is not capable of being run as planned, including infections by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes beyond the control of the Sponsor that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Contest. In such event, Sponsor will post notice at the Conference and on the Contest Website and will implement an alternate means for awarding all prizes.
MISCELLANEOUS:
If any part of these Official Rules is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or otherwise unenforceable, such part will be deemed modified or eliminated to the extent necessary, in the court's opinion, to make it enforceable while preserving the original intent of the Sponsor, and the remaining parts of these Official Rules will remain in full force and effect. The Contest will be governed by, and these Official Rules will be interpreted by, and enforced in accordance with, the laws of the State of California and applicable United States federal law, without regard to any conflicts of laws principles. The Contest is void where prohibited by law. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Official Rules, the Contest, the Conference, or any prize must be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in San Francisco, California, and Sponsor and each Entrant irrevocably waive any objection to the venue and jurisdiction thereof.
As part of your entry, Informa may contact you via email regarding the GDC Play service for independent game creators taking place during Game Developers Conference.
WINNERS' LIST:
For the name of the Winners, which will be available after March 19, 2025, check the Contest Website.
Frequently Asked Questions
I live outside the United States. May I enter the IGF Competition?
Yes, but submission processing and travel to the event is subject to any applicable international regulations and/or sanctions. Please note the the organizer has restricted business with the fllowing countries and territories: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Russia, Russian occupied territories of Ukraine (Crimea, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia), Syria, and Venezuela. Please contact Senior Event Producer Sarah Zilonis if you have questions.
We are working on more than one game. Can more than one game be entered in the IGF Competition?
Yes, and we’d love to see them!
We are a publisher who wants to submit multiple independent games, how many can we submit on behalf of our game developers?
As a publisher, you can submit up to 3 independent games on behalf of your developers. However, there is no restriction on developers of a single publisher submitting games (i.e., multiple different developers who use the same publisher can submit any number of their games). The cap on publishers is set to maintain the independent spirit of this competition and encourage developers to submit their games directly to the competition.
My game is complicated. How can I make sure that judges understand and play it correctly?
One excellent way to do this is via video. We allow you to attach a video link (public on YouTube) to your submission. But you are also welcome to link private tutorial videos in your submission or even upload them alongside your submission. Also feel free to link to other background information and documentation.
Can I submit a game that's already been released? Can I submit an unfinished game demo?
The IGF does accept games that have already been released to the public, either by directly uploading a build of the game, or by providing us with download codes for various services (Steam, GOG, App Store, web pages, etc). You may also submit an early/demo version of the game, but please note that the rules stipulate that it must be "substantially feature-complete", and that your game will be in competition with games nearly or already available. If you're unsure whether your game is "substantially feature-complete enough" by the deadline, you may wish to wait until the following year's festival!
Can I update my game after entering the competition?
You can upload new builds of your game at any time. Please note that after the submission deadline, judges may look at your game at any time. You can continue giving us new versions, but we only absolutely guarantee that judges and jury members will see the version of your game first uploaded by the deadline.
What systems must a game run on?
The IGF Competition officially supports any platform - PC, console, web, mobile, etc. Many of our judges also have access to console and VR development kits - please specify what is needed in your submission. We cannot guarantee that all judge or jury members will have access to any special hardware required to play your game.
It's been X days since the deadline for submissions has passed. Is it too late to enter our game into the festival?
If you don't make the cutoff date, we can't accept your game. Sorry -- it's in the interest of fairness to all the other entries who had to cut their development cycle short to get their games in on time. You can always enter the competition next year!
Will I receive feedback on my game?
We've removed written judge feedback to concentrate on further optimizing the judging process, getting people playing as many games as possible and formalizing the feedback system.
Developer feedback has always been an optional part of the judging process and in general, having the game played in detail by multiple judges takes precedence over providing written feedback. While the feedback is well intentioned, without having a clear structure it is often inconsistent or on par with what a normal user playtest would provide.
Do you offer financial assistance for entering the competition?
IGF organizers would like to encourage and engage with submissions from game developers making interesting or experimental works who, because of the fee, might not enter the contest. Those creators interested in applying for a waiver of the full $75 general entry fee or $25 student entry fee can submit initial details on their game using this form. Entries should be submitted by September 23, 2024. If selected, entrants will be given a code to submit their game to IGF 2025. Please reach out to IGF Chairperson Shawn Pierre with any questions or concerns.
How does the IGF judging and jurying process operate?
Each year, we invite hundreds of game developers both big and small, educators, critics, and press to be the initial IGF 'large' judging pool. (Think of the judges as an Oscars-style cross-section of the game community.) If any individual was directly involved in the creation of any game entered in the festival that year, they will recuse themselves from judging the festival (Note: any interested party that works in the games industry can request an invitation to be a judge. If you are selected, you'll receive an email from us when our judging process has begun.).
All submitted games are assigned to a random set of judges from our 'large' judging pool. This body of judges typically consists of 250-300 participants, and assignments are made based on the game platforms the judge owns. Judges are given roughly 3-5 weeks to play and recommend any game they believe should be a finalist in any category.
Over time, games are randomly assigned to even more judges, to ensure a breadth of opinion. Judges are able to communicate with one another to recommend games, schedule multiplayer sessions, and raise any technical issues directly with a game's developer. They also use this opportunity to debate the positives and negatives of specific titles. After judges are finished recommending the games they have been assigned, they are free to explore the rest of the entered games and vote for any additional game they believe deserves a recommendation.
At the end of this 'large' judging period, we then enter a jurying phase. There is a different jury for each award, made up of subject matter experts - except for the Audience Award, which is chosen by public vote, and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, which is chosen and voted on by members across every jury pool. The juries are given access to the total number of recommendations each game received for their particular category by our first-round judges. They also receive another metric that they look at: a percentage that represents how many recommendations each game got from its assigned judges. This helps to bring less well-known titles to light and guards against judges simply 'swarming' games they might have already heard of.
Each jury, made up of 7-10 members, takes another month or so to play and discuss the games in private. At the end of this discussion, each individual juror puts forward their list of nominations for the specific award they are judging - as many or as few as they like (often called 'approval voting').
These nominations may include the games that received many recommendations from the judges, but often includes games entered into the festival with fewer recommendations as well. (Think of the juries as film festival panels, such as the one that gives out the Cannes Palme D'Or). The jury nominations are then tallied, and the games which received the most nominations are then decided as the finalists and honorable mentions.
Once these finalists have been announced, each individual IGF jury casts a second vote for the games they believe should be the winner in each category. Those votes are again tallied by hand, and the game that received the most votes is declared the winner at the IGF Awards during GDC.
Finally, each jury comes together to deliberate the Seumas McNally Grand Prize winner. Each jury member will review games across all categories and cast their vote for the finalists and winners of biggest award of the IGF.
If you have further questions, please contact the IGF Chairperson, Shawn Pierre, at [email protected].