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BAFTA has put out its last call for entries for the 2009 British Academy Video Games Awards.
There are two entry deadlines to make note of: if your game will be released before November 19th, the cut-off point is Wednesday November 5th, whereas games released after this date but before December 31st have until December 1st to apply.
The dates have been repositioned in order to accommodate the year’s biggest releases, said Anne-Marie Flynn, head of awards at BAFTA. "This way shortlisters who will be voting online in mid-November will only be judging titles that have been released. Any late releases will be scrutinised by the BAFTA category jurors over a six to seven week period.”
Taking place on Tuesday 10th March 2009 at the London Hilton on Park Lane, the awards will ‘place a focus on creativity and innovation as opposed to commercial success alone’. 13 awards will be given: Action & Adventure, Artistic Achievement, Casual, Gameplay, Multiplayer, Original Score, Sports, Strategy, Story & Character, Technical Achievement, Use of Audio, Best Game and – new for this year – Handheld, encompassing games for mobile phones, DS, PSP and GBA. BAFTA will also once again partner with Dare to be Digital to highlight rising talent in the industry with the Bafta Ones to Watch award.
Ray Maguire, chairman of the Games committee, added: “BAFTA has been recognising creative excellence for more than sixty years in the fields of film and TV, so much so that it is now a household name which is respected worldwide as the ultimate kite-mark of excellence. We are now committed to seeing the creative artistry behind games enjoying the same mainstream recognition.”
BAFTA is also currently accepting applications for BAFTA shortlisters, who are involved in the first stage of online voting. For more information, and for details about the event, visit the BAFTA website.
