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Independent Games Festival
The IGF Takes Place During GDC Festival of Gaming
PAVILION: March 11-13, 2026
CEREMONY: March 11, 2026
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28th Annual Independent Games Festival Finalist Portal

Congratulations on being nominated for the 28th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards! With 790 entries this year, it is a major achievement to make it to the finals. The ceremony will be held on Wednesday, March 11 from 6:30pm - 8:00pm PST.

This is the nominee-only page to help you get ready for the show - please bookmark this page for further reference and note the deadlines related to the ceremony below in your calendar. Should you have any questions throughout this process, please reach out to Shannon McMullan.

You'll find important information and deadlines listed below that will help you make the most of your nomination. Please let me know as soon as possible if you need more time to submit these materials so that we can accommodate you.

Key Dates

December 19 - Please confirm your game title, developer and publisher listing information
January 19 - Attributions, Game and Company Logos, Music, and Game Footage due
January 25 - Audience Award will close
February 6 - Stipend information due
February 13 - Attendance deadline
February 20 - Acceptance speech due (only submit this if no one from your team is attending)
March 10 - IGF Pavilion setup
March 11 - Press Hour @ IGF Pavilion
March 19-21 - IGF Pavilion open to the public
March 19 - Awards Ceremony

Game Title, Developer, Publisher listing

Due Friday, December 19

When we introduce your game as an IGF nominee at the awards ceremony, we will depict the game title, developer, publisher and up to four names of individuals who worked on the game, per award category on screen using a video reel.

Attributions will be shown and announced as follows during your nominee reel: "Game Title, Developed by...., Published by..., Attributions" except for Best Debut nominees, who will be shown and announced as follows: "Developer, Nominated for Game Title, Attributions".

If you are nominated for multiple award categories, you can specify different sets of attributed names for each category. If you don't have 1-4 individual names you'd like to list, please leave this field blank. That said - we know you and your team worked really hard to make these games possible, so we strongly encourage you to use this field to thank them for their work.

In addition to the written text, a voiceover will read all of this information aloud during the video. Please provide audio recordings of each of the attributed names, the game title, the developer, and the publisher even if you think those pronunciations are self-evident. You can submit this as an audio file recorded on a phone. It does not need to be high quality and can be sent over email. These pronunciation files will only be used as a reference by the voiceover artist.

Please email all audio files and written attribution information to Shannon McMullan. We recommend using WeTransfer (up to 2 GB free) and emailing links Shannon McMullan via email—but if that option is not available, please feel free to share via any other share file service that works for you.

Game and Company Logos, Music, and Game Footage

Due Monday, January 19

Game footage is required to show clips of the nomination for each category that your game is nominated in. You should have received a dedicated Dropbox link to upload your files too. Please follow the instructions below when uploading your files.

Feel free to reach out with any questions: alexsdoucos@gmail.com

Upload Requirements for GDCA Nominees:

  • Read the top title and ensure you are uploading to the right link.

  • Please upload game footage files starting with the name of the game followed by the nominee category.

  • For example: NameOfGame_BestDesign.

  • If you are nominated for multiple ceremonies, please provide us with ample options of footage.

  • Please do not change any extensions, (for example: if your footage ends in .mp4 or .mov), keep them as is.

  • Please make sure file names do not have any special characters: periods (.), colons (:), brackets (][), backward (\) or forward-slashes (/}. PLEASE USE ONLY LETTERS.

  • If they contain any of these characters, our system will not see them when uploaded.

  • Please provide us with clips that contain imagery relating to the category/categories your game was nominated for.

  • Highest quality available files are preferred.

  • We would love it if you send Prores .mov files. However, if you cannot send Prores .mov, H.264 is fine. (1080p and above).

  • Additionally, please provide a copy of your original soundtrack.

  • .wav files preferred if available.

  • Please specify if music is copyrighted or not or OST

  • Game passes and/or codes provided for screen records would be very helpful.

  • Please provide all logos.

  • Provide both GAME and DEVELOPER logo and label appropriately.

  • Provide logos with background and without backgrounds

  • Provide different options, if available

  • Please note: We typically edit reels from clips provided by the game developers, however, in a time crunch, the clips could be from any pre-approved teasers or trailers of the game, (however this is not preferred). Please include sound from these games as part of the clips as well.

Audience Award

Closes Sunday, January 25

Voting for the Audience Award opens on Monday, January 12 and remains open until Sunday, January 25 at 11:59pm PT.

This award is an opportunity for all members of the public to vote for their favorite finalist title online - the game with the most votes will win the award so be sure to share your nomination and the voting link with your players and audiences!

The link for audience voting will be shared with you upon opening.

Finalist Stipend

Due Friday, February 6

As part of the 2026 IGF Finalist package, we will be offering a $1,000 (USD) stipend to each nominated game. To process the payment, please submit the following to Shannon McMullan via email by Friday, February 6:

  • W-9 or W-8 form

  • Individual Name/Entity that the payment should be made out to

  • Address

  • Contact Name

  • Contact Email address

  • Contact Phone Number

  • Payment type: Direct Deposit or Wire Transfer


You will be contacted by our accounting department approximately 5 business days after submitting the above information and they will request banking details through a Docusign form directly from you. The Docusign email should come from the email address dse@eumail.docusign.net with the body of the text starting “Informa Vendor Management Team” and the suppliersetupus-1@informa.com email address right below that. It may go to your spam folder.

Please add the email addresses (dse@eumail.docusign.net) to your contact list so the accounting department emails do not go to spam.

Please let me know as soon as possible if your physical address and banking address are in two different countries.

Attendance and GDC Pass Information

Due Friday, February 13

As part of your IGF finalist package, you will receive (4) Festival passes to GDC 2026, which can be given to any four members of your team. These will allow entry into the Festival Hall, Awards Ceremony, and Main Stage content. This is considered an “All Access Pass”.

Your Festival passes include Exhibitor Access, to gain access starting Tuesday, March 10, to set up and break down the exhibit for your game at the IGF Pavilion in the Festival Hall at GDC 2026. The Exhibitor Pass also allows access to modify and setup the Exhibitor Portal. Your 4 Festival passes will also have these permissions.

Please send Shannon McMullan the list of people who will receive a Festival pass and include their full name as it should appear on their badge, as well as an email address to send their RSVP to. Everyone will be able to pick up their pass at the show with a photo ID. Should their real name and government ID not match, they will be able to list outdated information on their profile privately once registered for ease of picking up their badge.

More information about what benefits the GDC Passes offer can be found on the Passes & Prices page.

Awards Ceremony and VIP Party

Due Friday, February 13

Please confirm if at least one member of your team representing your game plans to attend the 2026 Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco by the deadline of Friday, February 13. If no one from your team can attend, please fulfill the acceptance speech requirement below.

To RSVP, to Shannon McMullan via email.

As an IGF finalist, you are eligible for 5 seats per nomination in the VIP section of the award show, roped off and situated just in front of the stage with round tables. If you are nominated in 4 categories, that means you are eligible for 20 seats. You do not have to use every seat and I'm happy to work with you should you want to request additional seats where possible. The VIP section will have a seating chart and seats are limited, so please do not RSVP for seats you do not need so that we can fully fill this section with finalists and their teams.

Changes can be made to your seating reservations up until 9am PT the morning of the ceremony, however, we cannot guarantee your entire team will be able to sit together for any RSVPs made after March 2.

There is no official dress code for the ceremony, but nominees are encouraged to dress up for this special occasion - call it Creative Formal. We want you and your teams to dress in a way that makes you feel celebrated and confident. Be sure to get a group photo at the awards step and repeat to show off your styles!

Acceptance Speech

Due Friday, February 20

Award winners will be called to the stage to receive their trophy and are provided with a few moments to make a thank you/acceptance speech. If your team cannot attend the Awards Ceremony at the Moscone Center, you will have an opportunity to provide a pre-recorded acceptance speech. You are welcome to submit a video, slideshow, image file or text as your acceptance / thank you speech per category that you are nominated in. The deadline to submit your acceptance speech for the Awards Ceremony is Friday, February 20.

Video Format:

  • 1920x1080p/60, ProRes, 422 .MOV File OR 1920x1080p/60, H.264, MP4 File

  • Approximately 1 minute

Location

Ceremony Date is Wednesday, March 11

The Awards Ceremony will take place on the Main Stage in North Hall of the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. The awards ceremony is available to all GDC 2026 pass-holders and will be live-streamed on the official GDC Twitch channel.  Additionally, GDC will be implementing these health & safety measures at the conference.

IGF Pavilion

IGF Pavilion Open from March 11-13

Each IGF recipient is given their own kiosk with signage that includes the game title, developer and publisher name, and nomination category. If you will not be at the IGF Pavilion at all, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can make arrangements to set up and show your game at your kiosk in the IGF Pavilion on your behalf. In addition to your individual kiosk, there will be an accessible table for all attendees who wish to engage with IGF finalist games. Please share 2 codes with Shannon McMullan ahead of time for the pavilion: 1 that will be used on your kiosk laptop, and one that will be used for the accessible table.

Set up hours are: Tuesday, March 10: 8am - 6pm

IGF Pavilion Hours are:

  • PRESS HOUR: Wednesday, March 11: You will receive a separate email with more information closer to the event

  • Wednesday, March 11: 10am-6pm

  • Thursday, March 12: 10am-6pm

  • Friday, March 13: 10am-3pm

The equipment provided with your kiosk at the IGF Pavilion includes:

  • A kiosk

  • A laptop

  • Signage that lists the game, developer, publisher and nomination category

  • 1 monitor

  • 1 keyboard and mouse

  • 1 set of headphones

  • 1 chair


If you have any equipment requests, please reach out to Shannon McMullan with your request as soon as possible. Requests are not guaranteed and are subject to show management approval. The conference itself will have WiFi in select places, but not on the Expo Floor. You should bring extension cables (or a USB hub). This will let you place your laptop or computer inside the kiosk booth with enough length to connect above should you wish to bring your own equipment. We can't be responsible for your computer, but in the 25 years of the IGF we've never had a problem. That said, locks for all of your equipment and devices are recommended. You need to set up your kiosk by end of day on Tuesday and make sure everything is working to be ready for the press hour on Wednesday morning.

***TIP: It can be helpful to create a self-running demo to showcase your game so that you can communicate with attendees at the same time.***

Game Submission if You Cannot Be On Site:

  • Download codes are preferred (multiple codes for multiplayer games)

  • Submit codes in a text document in an email to Shannon McMullan

Ask us Questions!

Please don't hesitate to contact Shannon McMullan  if you have any questions - we'll be available from now through the night of the awards!