Imirt, The Irish Game Makers Association has announced that it has awarded €46,150 in tuition scholarships to 25 of its members in partnership with the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and UBM Tech.
The Game Developers Conference (gdconf.com) is the premiere conference for game developers in the world and is held each Spring in San Francisco, CA. The conference attracts 30,000 attendees from all over the world and offers workshops, talks and opportunities for game developers to network with international game developers, prospective partners, publishers and hardware manufacturers.
“GDC is the single-most important event of the year for the game industry,” said Brenda Romero, chairperson of Imirt. “By providing these scholarships, we not only increase the Irish presence at the show, but increase the knowledge base within the country as well. We’re grateful to GDC for making this possible.” Romero also serves on the GDC Game Design Advisory Board.
The scholarship provides attendees with an all-access pass to GDC, normally valued at €1845. Recipients will be able to attend the main GDC conference as well as the two days of tutorials and summits that precede the main event.
Winners were selected based on answers submitted to the review committee which was composed of Romero, Laralyn McWilliams and Llaura NicAodh.
For winner Jen Carey, a Dublin-based game writer and designer, the GDC scholarship provides a great chance to network with international game developers she would not otherwise meet. “Since collaboration is such a big part of creative industries, the opportunity to get to know so many amazing people is invaluable,” said Carey. “I’m hoping to learn from everybody there and in turn let them know about the brilliant work done in Ireland by so many talented people.”
Imirt: The Irish Game Makers Association represents game makers from all disciplines throughout Ireland, both analog and digital. Among Imirt’s members are thirty nine company founders based in Ireland as well as developers from thirty four game companies developing games on consoles, PC, mobile, VR and tabletop. Imirt members come from all sectors of the game industry including developers, educators, middleware and support services.
Well done all!