The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), the video games industry’s professional trade organization representing 22,000+ development and creative membership of the video game industry, has opened submissions for the 18th D.I.C.E. Awards (#DICEAwards).  One of the top peer-based honors for the video game industry, the D.I.C.E. Awards ceremony will take place the evening of Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015 at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas as the grand finale to the annual D.I.C.E. Summit (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain). 

To reflect the evolving landscape of the games industry, AIAS is pleased to announce two new Awards: the Technical Impact Award and the D.I.C.E. Sprite Award category. 

• The Technical Impact Award celebrates unique innovations that contribute to the ongoing progress of interactive media. Honorees may come from various facets of the industry, which may include but are not limited to software, hardware, and community. Other Academy Special Awards include the Hall of Fame, Lifetime Achievement and Pioneer Award honors.
• The D.I.C.E. Sprite Award will be awarded to a game having disproportionate resources for development and exposure (as compared to AAA titles), represent a higher degree of risk tolerance and advances our industry with innovative gameplay and experiences. Other Game of the Year Awards include Outstanding Innovation in Gaming and Mobile Game of the Year, among others.

"With the Technical Impact Award, the Academy and our board of directors are looking to shine a light on the technical innovations that have been instrumental in shaping the many varied aspects of our medium,” said Martin Rae, president, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. “These can be software tools, applications or even hardware innovations that have enriched how we play games, how we make games and how we continue to move the medium forward.”

“The D.I.C.E. Sprite Award is our effort to celebrate the big ideas and artistic risks that encompass experiences unique to our art form that aren’t necessarily born of AAA resources,” said Rae. “We are looking forward to celebrating together with the individuals and teams behind the many great titles of 2014."

The honorees of the Technical Impact Award will be announced later this year. The D.I.C.E. Sprite Award will join the 23 Game of the Year, Genre and Craft Awards categories, which are the industry’s highest form of recognition. The Awards winners are announced live before an audience of industry luminaries and nominees on the evening of Thursday, Feb. 5.  The evening culminates with the announcement of the Academy’s top honor, Game of the Year, which celebrates a single title that resonates as the best of the year’s many great accomplishments. A sampling of previous Game of the Year winners includes The Last of Us (2013), Journey (2012) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) and Mass Effect 2 (2010). 

To be eligible for nomination, a game must have been released to the public between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2014 (except for Online Game of the Year, which celebrates the online gameplay experiences past their initial release due to excellent developer support through the significant addition of new and exciting content). Deadline for submission is Monday, Dec. 1st.

Click here for the full press release.

Click here to download the submission form.

Click here to download the complete rules and procedures document.

Independent publishers seeking to enter a title to the D.I.C.E. Sprite Award may contact Claudio Tapia to learn more information about submissions.