[games_access] Australian Game Dev Awards -- First Mainstream Award Show to Include Accessibility Award

[Michelle Hinn]

Ok, so this is some exciting news -- the Game Development Association of
Australia is giving (and still accepting nominations for) their annual
awards show, making this the first mainstream game development awards show
to have this award! Please spread the news! My email is
michellehinn at gmail.com if you have any questions and the head of the GDAA's
information is in their press release below

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Media Release: For immediate release



A world first for recognising the importance of inclusion in game
development.



17  September 2013

Australia is leading the world in making games accessibility a priority.
The latest demonstration of commitment to enabling a wider cross section of
the community be catered for when playing games is the inaugural
Accessibility Award announced by the Game Developers’ Association of
Australia (GDAA) as part of the 2013 Australian Game Developer Awards. This
follows on from the inclusion of accessibility considerations by Film
Victoria and Screen Australia when allocating funding to game development
projects.

Accessibility in this context means mainstream games that make an effort to
avoid unnecessarily excluding people with motor, cognitive, hearing, speech
or vision impairments. For more information see
http://www.gameaccessibilitguidelines.com. Screen Australia’s Investment
Manager, Justin Halliday said “Accessibility was one of the key issues
raised by the industry during the consultation process for Screen
Australia’s new Games Fund. Screen Australia and state agencies like Film
Victoria recognise that accessibility in gaming brings some huge benefits,
not only the obvious economic benefits of being able to reach wider
audiences, but also quality of life, allowing access to culture,
entertainment, and socialising for many people who have limited recreation
opportunities. "

 Accessibility advocates and experts the world over are excited by the news
that Australia is not only financially supporting, but also recognising
excellence in the field of game accessibility.

The International Game Developers’ Association (IGDA) Accessibility Special
Interest Group (SIG) Co-chair, Michelle Hinn, welcomed the award’s
inclusion in the Australian Game Developer Awards, to be held in Melbourne
on 22 October. “The Accessibility SIG has been lobbying for inclusion of
accessibility categories in industry awards for at least 8 years now. There
have been so many "almost...but thanks but no thanks" roads we have been
down and I am just simply over the moon that you guys are picking up on an
award for this!”



Another Accessibility advocate and expert, Ian Hamilton from the UK, who
visited Australia late last year, also pledged his support for these latest
initiatives. “From Team Bondi to The Voxel Agents, Global Game Jam to the
Film Victoria and Screen Australia funding programmes, Australia has often
been at the forefront of accessibility in the games industry. The
government and industry support and guidance through the funding programmes
in particular has resulted in a local industry with an unsurpassed level of
knowledge and understanding about the barriers people can face and how to
open up access to as wide an audience as possible.

The accessibility award is a natural next step. Awards have been given in
the past by individuals and charities such as AbleGamers in the USA, but
this AGDA category is, to my knowledge, the first time that the economic
and life changing value of accessibility has been recognised in this way by
an internal industry body, which is a really significant and exciting
landmark in game accessibility.” Said Hamilton.

Nominations for the Accessibility Award are open until 30 September 2013
come from within the video game development sector and a panel of experts
in the field then decide on the winners. For the accessibility award the
panel will include international authorities in the field including
Hamilton and representatives from the IGDA Accessibility SIG.



The Australian Game Development Awards include the categories of: Game of
the Year, Studio of the Year, Excellence in Art, Excellence in Design,
Excellence in Audio, Technical Excellence, Innovation Award, and the
Accessibility Award.  The awards night will be held on Tuesday 22 October
in conjunction with 2013 Game Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) conference at the
Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre 21-23 October.

----ends



For further information contact

Giselle Rosman

Game Developers’ Association of Australia

gisellerosman at gdaa.com.au

0406631926
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