Games Media Awards: How it works

Lobbying for the Games Media Awards has now opened, and we’ve already been inundated with emails. But in case you’re confused about how the process works, here’s step-by-step guide to winning one of the coveted GMAs…

The lobbying period is open now and until July 26th. Anyone can lobby for yourself, a colleague, a favourite media brand or individual, or even a competitor now. Simply email gma@intentmedia.co.uk.

Based on the email nominations, the team at Intent Media and Indigo Pearl creates a list of finalists for each category. This process involves looking at the performance of those nominated media over the past year, plus the information provided by the lobbying emails. We DON’T base finalist positions on the number of emails we receive about a particular individual or media brand.

The finalists for each category are presented to panel of over 150 judges from the games media only. THE WINNERS ARE JUDGED BY PRESS ONLY THIS YEAR. These judges ultimately choose the winners of each Games Media Awards.

The full list of categories is as follows:-

Games Magazine
Games Website
Specialist Writer – Print
Specialist Writer – Online
National Newspaper – Writer
Mainstream Magazine – Writer
Games Video
Games Radio or Podcast
Games Blog
Rising Star
Coverage by a Mainstream Website
Top Tweeter
Games Media Academy
Games Writer of the Year
Games Media Legend

The Games Writer of the Year Award is different, however. Here, all games journalists – specialist, non-specialist, print and online – are invited to enter this category. Journalists simply need to submit a piece of writing published since October 18th last year. The nominations will be judged – totally anonymously – by award-winning journalist and Guardian columnist Tim Lott.

Meanwhile, the Games Media Academy is open to submissions from students and others who wish to become a games writer in the future, but are NOT currently employed as a journalist. Entries of 400 words should be sent to gmacademy@intentmedia.co.uk. The winner will be judged by a panel of leading games media and will receive over 1,000 of freelance commissions.

Hopefully, this should explain exactly how the awards work. But if you have any questions, please contact Lisa.Carter@intentmedia.co.uk or Caroline@indigopearl.com