Excitement builds for Gotland Game Awards

The annual Gotland Game Awards student competition is taking place at the University of Gotland on June 7 – 8 this year.

Set on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland, the awards have been organised by the game education department at the University of Gotland each year since 2006.

Representatives of major studios like Avalanche, Microsoft, Starbreeze, Lionhead and Crytek will be in attendance to see and judge the work of around 500 students from the game design courses at the University.

”The school is well known by these companies as some of the employees used to study with us,” said head of the Gotland University game design programs Don Geyer.

Students will be competing in 18 different categories including Best XNA Game, Best Serious Game and the UNICEF Award for Human Rights.

Event sponsors have donated prizes with a total value of €300,000 in support of the event, and Hansoft tool licenses will be granted to all winners.

”We are proud to announce Hansoft as a sponsor, and thanks to our partnership, our students will get a flying start into work life and a competitive advantage in the job market,” said University of Gotland games program teacher Håkan Mattsson.

CEO of Hansoft Patric Palm was equally enthusiastic about the event and his firm’s association with it.

”We have great experiences from having sponsored similar awards where the winners grew to commercially successful, publisher signed projects,” he said.

“I’m excited to follow the Gotland Game Awards to see what the young talents are up to and how far the projects will reach in the future.”

Participating student Sara Pauni was excited about the awards as well.

“The award ceremony is highly motivating for us students,” she said.

“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.”