GDC Student Scholarships

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2008 GDC Student Scholarship Recipients

Chase Bowen Martin - Indiana University
Lisa Deanne Brown - Carnegie Mellon University
Michael Callahan - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Mike Cornford - Great Northern Way Campus (Canada)
Tatyana Dyshlova - Brown University
Elizabeth England - Guildhall at SMU
Jordan Fine - Macquarie University (Australia)
Matthew Gaydos - University of Wisconsin, Madison
Enrique Saúl González Di Totto - The University of Tokyo (Japan)
Haris Halvatzis - University of Macedonia (Greece)
Sean Hathaway - FullSail
Jon Hayward - Edith Cowan University (Australia)
Yuichi Hiruta - Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (Japan)
David Larsson - Blekinge Institute of Technology (Sweden)
James Leonis - FullSail
Ken Leung - University of Southern California
Silvia Lindtner - University of California, Irvine
Sarah McGee - Rice University
Jeff McNab - Savannah College of Art and Design
Alice Rendell - University of Wales (UK)
Philip "Fivel" Rothberg - Hunter College of CUNY
Andrew Sorkin - Berklee School of Music
Tynan Sylvester - Concordia University (Canada)
Ryan Timoney - University of Southern California
Barret Trickey - Kyoto Computer Gakuin (Japan)

Qualifications & Scholarship Details

The IGDA will award 25 scholarships to send qualified students to the 2008 Game Developers Conference. GDC is where game development professionals gather to share ideas and build the skills that the industry needs. Located in San Francisco, California, this year's GDC will be held February 18-22, 2007.

Scholarship applications must be submitted on or before Friday, December 7th, 2007.
Only full-time university (or similar) students are eligible, and must be 18 years of age or older as of February 18, 2008.
Applicant must be an IGDA Student Member in good standing. If you are not currently a Student Member, you must join the IGDA before applying for the scholarship. All applications will be verified.
Past scholarship recipients are not eligible.
Recipients will be awarded one Main Conference Pass, with access to all sessions, roundtables, and keynotes. Breakfast and lunch included.
Students are responsible for all travel arrangements and costs.
Scholarship applications will be judged by a panel of professional game developers.
Each scholarship recipient will be paired with an industry mentor.
Scholarship recipients will participate in a local studio visit and orientation session on February 19th.
Recipients will be announced before January 16th, 2008 (the early rate pricing deadline).

Judging Criteria

To help students hone their applications and to better understand what the judges are looking for, here's the basic criteria that judges will use to rate applicants:

Relevance - Will attending GDC help the student achieve his or her specific educational and/or career goals?
Initiative - Has the student demonstrated continued dedication to game development and effort to educate themselves?
Special Circumstances - Has the student overcome any unusual challenges or obstacles?
Communication - Are the ideas expressed in the essays communicated effectively and efficiently?
Tilt Factor - Overall, does it seem like this student would be fun and interesting to have around at GDC?
Bonus: Veteran judge Dave Weinstein has shared his personal guidance/insight for judging

Scholarship Application

The application deadline was Friday, December 7th, 2007.
Recipients will be announced before January 16th, 2008 (the early rate pricing deadline).

"I highly recommend that anyone who is working towards breaking into the game industry attempt to attend as many GDCs as possible – the networking alone is worth the trip, and the diversity of sessions will keep all flavors of game developer interested well past the conference's end date." - Matthew Raymond Billock, 2006 Scholarship Recipient

GDC Volunteer Program

As the IGDA has a limited number of scholarships to award, we'd like to point students to the GDC's "Conference Associates" program. The CA program is an excellent way for students to experience GDC as a volunteer/attendee, with free entry to the conference. The CA program is managed directly by GDC. Please visit their site for details or to contact them directly with your questions.