Game submissions for the 2014 Serious Games Showcase & Challenge open tomorrow, August 1 through September
15. Finalists will be notified on October 15 and shall be prepared to attend
the I/ITSEC conference to be held in Orlando, Dec 1-4.
The SGS&C, that occurs at each
year's I/ITSEC (Interservice/Industry Training & Simulation Conference) in
Orlando, FL, is the world’s largest modeling & simulation event, incorporating
evaluation teams from Industry, Academia and Government.
All finalists are provided free entry to the
conference as well as space in the SGS&C booth to demonstrate their game to
a worldwide training, simulation and education audience in Orlando, Florida.
All award winners are announced on the final
day of the conference and invited to the I/ITSEC Awards Reception. Finalists
are also invited to sit with the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge
Planning Committee at the Awards Banquet.
New This Year!
The SGS&C Special Emphasis Award
category is open to entries that address a serious challenge or problem using a
prescribed technology or technique. This
year’s Special Emphasis is on games that use social media crowdsourcing as a
multi-player opportunity for peer learning and distributed problem-solving.
SGS&C is looking for games that use social
media to create learner engagement, reflection, and action! The idea is to use
social media to scale gameplay to include large groups of people (even
thousands!), all contributing to individual and collective learning
experiences. For example, games in this category might create a conversation on
a topic to help players solve puzzles in a serious game. Social media inputs to
gameplay could also include results from polls, feedback, videos, and links—just
about anything you can imagine being part of a serious game.
This SGS&C invites entrants to submit
their solutions for using social media crowdsourcing as a multiplayer
opportunity for peer learning. Whether
for middle and high school, university, defense, or industry, your innovative
solution is welcome!
There are 7 awards to be reaped:
Students’
Choice Award – The Students’ Choice Award category was started in 2013 in
cooperation with Orange County Public Schools in Central Florida. The
evaluation and award determination now includes many school systems from around
the United States. Unlike the other
awards, the Students’ Choice Award will be determined uniquely from a student’s
perspective among finalist games that address secondary education topics.
Best Game Special Emphasis – Social Media
Crowdsourcing for Peer – as described above.
Best Game Business Category – This award is commonly the hardest fought award for the historically
largest category. The best game entered in the Business category as judged by a
panel of evaluators earns bragging rights as the Best Business Game.
Best Game Student Category –Go up against other top colleges and universities through the
Challenge! In addition to great I/ITSEC networking opportunities with
top-paying employers, this award often comes with high-value sponsor prizes.
Best Game Government Category – Who has the best game ideas: DoD or DHS? US or Australia? These
games may have been funded or internally developed by non-academic government
agencies. International federal, state and local Governments vie for
recognition as the Best Government game.
Best Game Mobile Category – How well does your mobile game deliver in this unique platform?
SGS&C evaluators are looking for the game that best leverages the mobile
environment.
People’s Choice Best Game – The people of I/ITSEC will get their say. This award is decided by
ballots collected from I/ITSEC attendees all week and is not known until the
eve of the last day of I/ITSEC.
Important Dates
Sept 5 Game
Submissions Close
Oct 15
Notification of Finalists
Dec 1-4 SGS&C
at I/ITSEC 2013
Dec 4 Awards at
I/ITSEC in Orlando, FL
Game On!
About The Challenge
The Serious Games Showcase & Challenge
(SGS&C) was born in 2005 from the desire to stimulate industry creativity
and generate institutional interest towards the use of digital game technology
and approaches for training and education.
A partnership was formed with the organizers
of Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference
(I/ITSEC), the National Training Systems Association (NTSA), and the first
SGS&C was held at I/ITSEC 2006.
SGS&C has been a growing staple of the
I/ITSEC event ever since.