# Swedish Game Awards

Swedish Game Awards is Sweden's largest video game development competition. It has been held annually since 2002 and is organized by the student-driven, non-profit entrepreneurship association at the Royal Institute of Technology, Excitera. The competition's audience is students at Swedish universities and high schools, particularly those studying game development and software engineering. Funding is handled through partnerships with various software and game development companies, e.g. Digital Illusions CE and Sun Microsystems.

## History

Swedish Game Awards started in 2002 as a PC-only game competition under the name KTH Game Awards, and was targeted mainly at students in the Stockholm area. KTH Game Awards was founded by the KTH students Yashar Moradbakhti, Bartek Gudowski, Mikael Pommert and Andreas Harju. In 2004, KTH Game Awards was merged with another competition organized by Excitera, called the Excitera Mobile Award. This led to the creation of special class for mobile phone games. After its first iteration, the name was changed to Swedish Game Awards to reflect the increase in scope from local to national competition, as well as the fact that the competition had grown to be the largest of its kind in Sweden.
In 2014 the competitions hosts changed from students of Royal Institute of Technology to students of Södertörn University (while still maintaining its cooperation with Excitera).
In 2015 the competition added the category Best Diversity Effort as a result of their co-operation with Diversi to reflect the games industry's increasing interest in variation of its developers and consumers. The final day of the competition also had its first livestream on YouTube by cooperating with students of Medieinstitutet to make the announcement of the winners available directly to the public. It also broke the previous record of submitted games in 2014 (which was 98) with 104 games.
The competition has gradually gained recognition from Swedish game development companies and universities as a way for students to show their game development capabilities and thus increase their chances of getting employment within the video game industry.

## Competition Award History
### Current Categories
#### Game of the Year

    2017: Rope's Adventure
    2016: Notes of Obsession
    2015: Adventure on Clover island
    2014: Defunct
    2013: Epigenesis
    2012: Secrets of Grindea
    2011: Dead Meets Lead
    2010: Dwarfs!?
    2009: Bloodline Champions
    2008: Magicka
    2007: Puzzlegeddon
    2006: Dawnspire: Prelude
    2005: CrazyBall
    2004: Saga of Ina
    2003: Xazzon

#### Best Execution in Art

    2017: Pump the Frog
    2016: Super Neon Drifter
    2015: Adventure on Clover island
    2014: Piggy

#### Best Execution in Audio

    2017: Pick your potion
    2016: Notes of Obsession
    2015: Sons of Eye Championship
    2014: Beat It

#### Best Diversity Effort

    2017: Softa med Oss: the last assignment
    2016: Sam and Nicole
    2015: Iris & Earl

#### Best Execution in Design

    2017: Rope's Adventure
    2016: Cryptogram
    2015: Frog Climbers
    2014: Cubetrip

#### Best Execution in Narrative

    2018: Cateau
    2017: Eyes Align
    2016: Cryptogram
    2015: Adal's Vikings
    2014: Siege of Stockholm

#### Best Technical Execution

    2017: Pick your Potion
    2016: Cryptogram
    2015: Rymdstenar
    2014: Magnetic

#### Best Mobile Execution

    2018: Cosette's Cassettes

#### Gamers' Choice

    2017: Penny's Farm
    2016: Lance A Lot
    2015: Frog Climbers
    2014: Flash and crash
    2013: Fly or Die
    2012: Build 'n' Break
    2010: Eggnappers
    2009: Conquer the Hood
    2008: Boingo

### Previous Categories
#### Best Execution

    2013: Little Warlock
    2012: ---
    2011: ---
    2010: Br00t4l Qwest
    2009: Imperii
    2008: Boingo

#### Best Mobile Game

    2013: Dungeon Heroes
    2012: Forlorn
    2011: Block Breaker
    2010: Phoenix Spirit
    2008: Swarm by Kian Bashiri
    2007: Magnotix
    2006: Quantum
    2005: Ice Cakes

#### Best Innovation

    2013: King of the Thrill
    2012: Blobbz Online
    2011: Zap the Bugs
    2010: Block Tower Wars
    2009: Carpet Wrestling
    2008: Blueberry Garden
    2007: Fret Nice
    2006: Sumo
    2005: Promqueen
    2004: War, Siege & Conquest

#### Miscellaneous Awards

    2015: Game of the Year Nominees: The Hungry Maw From Outer Space, Frog Climbers, Rymdresa
    2013: Best Scenario: Grief
    2011: Jury honour nomination: Unmechanical
    2010: Best Web Game: Continuity
    2009: Best XNA game: Bloodline Champions
    2009: Best Java FX: Imperii
    2007: Best XNA game: Gravitron Ultra
    2007: Jury honour nomination: Streambolt Desero, Boiler, Raven Tale
    2007: Best PC game runner up: Harvest: Massive Encounter
    2007: Best mobile game runner up: Heximon
    2006: Jury honour nomination: Deadbolt
    2005: Sony Ericsson Mobile Java 3D Award: 3D Cube
    2004: Jury honour nomination: Hockey

## Current Competition

The 2014-2015 competition is organized by a team of Stockholm-based university students in various fields related to game design.
In its 13th year, the Swedish Game Awards continues annually to draw greater numbers of entries from student-development teams across Sweden.

### Rules

The parameters to the competition have remained relatively stable over the years, aimed toward providing a launching pad for talented, independent, student game developers to develop new and marketable games.
The official rules are available at http://gameawards.se/competition/rules.

### Event Timeline

The process of the Swedish Game Awards spans the majority of each academic year. Beginning in October with the SGA Kickoff, previous winners, current jury members, and corporate sponsors are invited to present their perspectives of the game industry and the Swedish Game Awards in particular to the upcoming year's participants. Also at this time, the various award categories are announced. The competition submissions are developed by independent teams during the year, culminating in a Jury Weekend and Grand Finale party in late May.
In the early months of the competition, the SGA Tour also occurs. During the tour, representatives from the Swedish Game Awards visit universities and technical schools across the country to engage with competition participants.

### Partners
#### Main Partners

King (company), DICE, Arrowhead Game Studios, Sweden Game Arena Autodesk

#### Gold Partners

MAG Interactive

#### Silver Partners

Paradox Interactive, Epic Games

#### Bronze Partners

Rovio Entertainment, Avalanche Studios

### Current Categories

    Game of the Year
    Gamers' Choice
    Best Diversity Effort
    Best Execution in Art
    Best Execution in Audio
    Best Execution in Design
    Best Execution in Narrative
    Best Technical Execution

## Previous Competition
### Previous Partners

Here is a list of previous partners that have sponsored the Swedish Game Awards in some way in the past.

#### Previous Main Partners

HP, Intel, ARM, Epic Games, King (company)

#### Previous Gold Partners

DICE, Arrowhead Game Studios, Rovio Entertainment, Mali DEVELOPER CENTER

#### Previous Silver Partners

Paradox Interactive, DICE, Wooga, Stardoll, Fondia, Grand Cru Games

#### Previous Bronze Partners

Autodesk, Easy Studios, Junebud, Gamers Gate, Swedish National Defence College, Avalanche Studios, Bitsquid, Hansoft

#### Previous Event Partners

EasyTryck.se

#### Previous Media Partners

The Square (publication)

### Previous Awards

    Best Execution
    Best Innovation
    Best Mobile Game
    Best Scenario
    Best Serious Game