#amazeawards

“Over the last years, we are constantly fostering authorship, artistic expression and the courage of creating off-the-grid views of gaming and narratives. Once again, games aren’t just products of entertainment, games are works influenced by the knowledge, perspective and experience of the developer, and especially this year we are seeing a manifestation of a clear direction that is inspired by an inclusive,playful and engaging digital culture“, says festival director Thorsten S. Wiedemann

The submitters’ work ranges from all kinds of playful media, which underline the A MAZE. Awards categories. 25 games will compete in the following 6 categories:

Most Amazing Game Award Human Human Machine Award Long Feature Award Digital Moment Award Collider Award
 Audience Award

THE NOMINEES:

Accounting+ by Crows Crows Crows (Germany)

Anamorphine by Artifact 5 (Canada)

Attentat 1942 by Charles University / Czech Academy of Sciences (Czech Republic)

Black Room by Cassie McQuater (USA)

Data Mutations by AAA (International)

Don't Make Love by Maggese (Germany)

eCheese Zone by Seemingly Pointless (USA)

Fountain by Philipp Stollenmayer (Germany)

Genital Jousting - Story Mode by Free Lives (South Africa)

Homescape by Yotam Rozin (Israel)

Homo Machina by Arte France (France)

Hypnospace Outlaw by Tendershoot (Germany)

Knights and Bikes by Foam Sword (UK)

Levedad by Solimporta (Ecuador)

Like Roots in the Soil by Space Backyard (Italy)

Liquorice by Dlareme (Cyprus)

Meryll Wants a Cookie by Lost again (The Netherlands)

Museum of Symmetry by The National Film Board of Canada / Paloma Dawkins (Canada)

Sloppy Forgeries by Jonah Warren (USA)

The Norwood Suite by Cosmo D (USA)

The Zium Museum by Michael Berto (Australia)

Tuned Out by Shallow Games (USA)

Untitled Goose Game by House House (Australia)

Walden, a game by USC Game Innovation Lab (USA)

Witchball by S.L.Clark (USA)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

character.animation.synth by Eran Hilleli, Giori Politi (Israel)

Isometric Epilepsy by Ludopium (Germany)

Nothing Happens VR by Michelle and Uri Kranot (Denmark)

NSFWARE by Pierrec (France)

Ooblets by Glumberland (USA)

Path to Mnemosyne by DevilishGames (Spain)

Pie in the Sky by Matthew Keff (USA)

Spoons by La Générale de Production (France)

Where Thoughts Go: Prologue by Lucas Rizzotto (USA)

The winners of each category will get chosen on-site during the festival in April by the international and multidisciplinary jury.

Sarah Northway (Canada)
 Robert Yang (USA) 
Peggy Schoenegge (Germany) 
Jack King-Spooner (UK)
 Leena Kejriwal (India)

Glenda on coming out at her own pace.

Human Human Machine Award (1000€)

This award goes to the best game that can be played by two or more people in the same room (local multiplayer), and includes some digital element – fully analog games won’t be accepted.

Submission link 2019

Winner 2018
 Tuned Out by Shallow Games (US)



Winner 2017
 Word After Word by Jonah Warren (US)



Winner 2016
 Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes by Steel Crate Games, Inc. (CA)



Winner 2015 
Crawl by Powerhoof (AU)



Winner 2014 
Nidhogg by Messhof (US)

Most Amazing Game Award (3000€)

The Grand Prize of the A MAZE. Awards goes to the most relevant, forward-thinking interactive and playful content. We premiere the best work overall - in terms of art, innovation, music, story and interaction. The prize is dedicated to the masterpiece of the award selection that shows us a path we never walked before.

Submission link 2019

Winner 2018
 Attentat 1942 by Charles University / Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ)

Winner 2017 
Everything by David O'Reilly (US)



Winner 2016 
Cosmic Top Secret by Trine Laier, Mads Lyngvig Jespersen, Lise Saxtrup, Bjørn Svin (DK)



Winner 2015 
Curtain by Llaura McGee (IE)



Winner 2014 
Perfect Woman by Lea Schönfelder (DE) and Peter Lu (US)



Winner 2013
 Spaceteam by Henry Smith (CA)



Winner 2012 
Proteus by Ed Key (UK) and David Kanaga (US)


Sarah Northway (Canada)

Sarah is the creator of the Rebuild strategy series, and a programmer and designer on Fantastic Contraption VR. She spent 5 years traveling the world with her husband and making indie games in remote places, and now explores the worlds inside her Vive.

Robert Yang (USA)


Robert Yang makes surprisingly popular games about gay culture and intimacy -- he is most known for his historical bathroom sex simulator The Tearoom and his male shower simulator Rinse and Repeat, and his gay sex triptych Radiator 2 has over 150,000 users on Steam. He is currently an Assistant Arts Professor at NYU Game Center, and he has given talks at GDC, IndieCade, Queerness and Games Conference, and Games for Change. He holds a BA in English Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School for Design.

Peggy Schoenegge (Germany)


Peggy Schoenegge studied art history at Humboldt University and Technische University in Berlin. Since 2016 she is a curator and project manager at peer to space. Amongst others she assisted realizing the VR exhibitions The Unframed World, Reset III and Virtual Reality and curated together with Tina Sauerländer Uncanny Conditions.

Jack King-Spooner (UK)

Jack King-Spooner is a Scottish artist who seeks the best medium to convey an idea. His game-works often disregard conventions and instead create novel, unorthodox experiences.

Leena Kejriwal (India)

The A MAZE. Awards are since 2012 the highlight of A MAZE. / Berlin. After a 2,5 month submission period we have this year 192 games submitted from 36 countries (alphabetical list enclosed). Big applause to all submitters worldwide. Their work ranges from all kinds of playful media, which underline our A MAZE. Awards categories.

“Over the last years, we are constantly fostering authorship, artistic expression and the courage of creating off-the-grid perspectives of gaming and narratives. Once again, games aren’t just products of entertainment, games are works influenced by the knowledge, perspective and experience of the developer, and especially this year we are seeing a manifestation of a clear direction that is inspired by an inclusive, playful and engaging digital culture“, says festival director Thorsten S. Wiedemann

ALL SUBMISSIONS FOR A MAZE. AWARDS 2018

End of February, we will reveal the 25 nominees and honorable mentions of the A MAZE. Awards 2018. The nominees will compete in the 5 award categories freshly introduced in 2017. The winners of each category will get chosen on-site during the festival in April by our wonderful international and multidisciplinary jury.

Sarah Northway (Canada) Robert Yang (USA) Peggy Schoenegge (Germany) Jack King-Spooner (UK) Leena Kejriwal (India)

The A MAZE. Award Show will take place on April 27, 2018 at 8 p.m. (Entrance at 7 p.m.) at Urban Spree and will be hosted by Tim Rogers (US)

List of submissions by country, 2018.

Australia 5 Austria 5 Belgium 1 Canada 16 China 1 Colombia 1 Croatia 1 Cyprus 2 Czech Republic 1 Denmark 7 Ecuador 1 France 17 Georgia 2 Germany 40 Iran 2 Ireland 2 Israel 6 Italy 3 Latvia 1 Netherlands 3 New Zealand 1 Norway 3 Pakistan 1 Poland 5 Portugal 2 Romania 1 Russia 1 Serbia 1 South Africa 3 South Korea 3 Spain 3 Sweden 3 Switzerland 4 Taiwan 1 UK 15 USA 27