Organizers of GDC 2015 and its Game Narrative Summit are proud to announce the winners of the 2015 edition of the annual Student Narrative Analysis Competition, who will all receive passes to attend the conference next week.
Curious about the award? Here's how it works: Every year, leading game design programs at universities across the country integrate the competition into their academic curricula. Each participating student conducts a detailed structured analysis of the narrative elements of a game title of their choice.
The resulting papers are submitted to the GDC Game Narrative Summit advisors for review, and the entrants with the most promising submissions are then invited to present poster sessions of their work to their future professional peers at the Game Narrative Summit.
Past winners (available for viewing right now on GDC Vault) have explored a variety of games in their sessions, from the biggest blockbuster AAA games to smaller, critically-acclaimed indie titles, including games renowned for their storytelling and games designed with no formal narrative at all.
Regardless of their chosen subject, past competitors have consistently produced incisive, bold analysis that foreshadows the contributions they will likely someday make to the field of game narrative.
2015 featured a strong group of entrants from schools across the country and around the world. We're proud to announce that this year's winners are:
Platinum Winners
- Trent Steen, Dakota State University
- Alexandra Lucas, DigiPen
- Jorge Montolio Conde, SMU
Gold Winners
- Kimberly Himmer, American University
- Cole Wrampelmeier, American University
- Sean Daily, Dakota State University
- Mostafa Haque, Dakota State University
- Gabriel Chenier, DigiPen
- Dustin Ellenwood, DigiPen
- Chase Rayment, DigiPen
- Thomas Trahey, Drexel University
- Evan Freed, Drexel University
- Vikingur Oskarsson, George Mason University
- Jonathan Butt, DigiPen
- Jonathan Bowman, Rochester Institute of Technology
- Nuha Alkadi, Sheridan College
- Brian Perry, SMU
- Alex Shilts, SMU
- Katie Wood, SMU
- Benjamin Skaggs, University of Southern California
- Yingying Chen, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
The Platinum winners will receive an all-access pass to this year's GDC, while the Gold winners will receive an expo pass. All winners have the opportunity to present a poster session highlighting their work on the show floor, and those sessions will be available for public viewing after the show on the GDC Vault.
The Game Narrative Summit would like to extend its congratulations to all the winners, and to all of the entrants whose fine work made judging this year's competition both hard work and a labor of love.
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