September 7, 2023

It's Time To Submit Your Game For The 2024 Independent Games Festival Awards

It's time to put your game in the spotlight. Submissions are now open for the 2024 Independent Games Festival!

The 2024 Game Developers Conference is now accepting submissions for the 26th annual Independent Games Festival—the longest-running festival, summit, and awards showcase celebrating independent games and their creators. Game developers and studios have until Wednesday, October 11, 2023 to enter in all categories for the coveted IGF Awards.

Click here for the IGF 2024 submissions page

The Independent Games Festival will nominate six finalist standout titles in each of these categories: Excellence in Visual ArtExcellence in AudioExcellence in DesignExcellence in Narrative, and Best Student Game. The Nuovo Award, which honors the title that “makes the jurors think differently about games as a medium,” will have eight finalists. The IGF Audience Award will be decided by a public poll that features all the competition's finalists. Six finalists will be selected to compete for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Finalists will be selected by hundreds of industry peers across game development and media, with specially selected juries picking the winners of each award. Last year, Cosmo D's Betrayal at Club Low took home the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, as well as the Nuovo Award. What will be the winning video game in 2024? It could be yours!

Looking for inspiration from previous IGF winners? Check out this first installment of an ongoing series, looking at previous Grand Prize winners and what their developers are up to today. 

For those making interesting or experimental works who, because of the entry fee, might otherwise not enter the contest, you can apply for a waiver on the $75 entry fee by October 1, 2023. If you're interested in becoming a judge for the 2024 IGF Awards, more information will be available in the coming weeks on how to apply. 

IGF is part of GDC 2024, which will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center from March 18 to March 22, 2024. 

Entries will be accepted through October 11 at 11:59pm PT, with finalists announced in early January. Submission applications are available here. For more information on the 2024 Independent Games Festival, including submission specifics, rules, and frequently asked questions, please visit the IGF website.

GDC returns to San Francisco in March 2024! For more information, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDC2024 hashtag on social media.

Subscribe to the GDC newsletter and RSS feed.

Get regular updates on GDC social media—including Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.