BAFTA Games Awards Entries are now open – and include BFI Diversity Standards for the first time

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has opened entries for the BAFTA Game Awards, which will take place in March 2021. BAFTA has also announced that the BFI Diversity Standards will be piloted across the British Game category, meaning that entrants will be asked to provide information on their companies’ production practices, as part of the pilot.

BAFTA initially introduced the BFI Diversity Standards the BFI Diversity Standards to the Film Awards in 2019, and will be piloting them across the UK production categories at the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards this year.

By asking entrants in the British Game category to participate in the pilot, the aim is to introduce the Diversity Standards as part of the rules and regulations for future awards. Entrants will be encouraged to ‘self-assess’ against the criteria in the BFI Diversity Standards for Games, ahead of their implementation in the future.

Amanda Berry OBE, CEO at BAFTA, said: “We are pleased to announce the pilot of the BFI Diversity Standards for the British Game category this year, with the aim of fully introducing diversity standards to BAFTA’s Games Awards in the future. This is part of our efforts to support the industry in its drive to create a more diverse, representative and inclusive UK games industry. Alongside our year-round global programme of events and initiatives, BAFTA will continue to find new ways to drive positive and impactful change.”

The BFI Diversity Standards are designed to encourage equality of opportunity and address under-representation in the screen industries. The Standards have now been adapted for the games industry, and calls on the industry to make meaningful changes to their projects to become more inclusive, and open up “more opportunities for people from all backgrounds to interact with and design games.”

The BFI Diversity Standards will primarily focus on under-represented groups across four areas:

A: In-game representation, themes and narratives

B: Creative leadership and development team

C: Industry access & opportunities

D: Player Base Development

The pilot BFI Diversity Standards for games can be found here.