Open call for game developers

The call offers the opportunity to become part of the festival and reach out to an international audience and network of media experts specialized in children’s projects.

Submissions for the 2024 Game Award are accepted from 1 March until 28 June 2024.

The Game Award underlines the growing role games play in contemporary children’s lives. Games connect, entertain, and enlighten, more so than ever before. Cinekid recognizes the importance of being able to point children towards games that provide more than merely a simple click-and-swipe game, and of providing alternatives to popular RPGs and shooters.

The project should be completed between 2023 and September 2024. Projects that are not fully completed may be submitted but must be substantially playable and be made accessible for the jury. The MediaLab is targeted towards children aged 3-14 and all works presented in it should be suitable for that age group. However, it is not necessary for a project to be especially created for children only.

We will consider projects of excellent artistic quality, innovation and/or authenticity and of course, whether it is fun to play. Cinekid welcomes submissions from international game studios, artists, designers, students and collectives. It is crucial that the production can be physically showcased and played effectively at the festival.

A professional commission will select a maximum of 10 titles and nominate a top 3. The full selection will receive the opportunity to showcase their project in the MediaLab at Cinekid Festival in the Netherlands. A youth jury will then choose the winner from the top 3, who will be awarded the Game Award. The winner receives a Cinekid Lion and a cheque of €2,500.

This call is closed.

Cinekid Festival is one of the world’s largest and most respected film and media festivals for a younger audience. The 38th edition of the festival will take place from October 20th until the 1st of November 2024. During the festival Cinekid presents the MediaLab, an exhibition of interactive and immersive installations, workshops and games in Amsterdam and 6 other cities in the Netherlands. 

Yearly, the festival welcomes some 50,000 visitors, 600 international professionals including partner festivals, producers, broadcasters, distributors, agents, curators and artists, and garners a wide variety of national and international media attention.

Rules and regulations can be found here.
 
For further information on submitting a project feel free to contact our MediaLab team at digitalculture@cinekid.nl.