It’s time to reveal our judging team for 2021! As with previous years, our panel is a mix of previous GDH winners and industry experts who will be helping us to find the Game Dev Heroes for 2021!

View the full list here & read all about our 2021 judges

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Huge thanks also to our partners at Splash Damage, Square Enix, Creative Assembly, Etch.Play, Creative England and the Creative UK Group, plus founding partners Aardvark Swift, Analog & Games Jobs Direct. We massively appreciate their support!

There was a point where we considered not having a Game Dev Heroes this year. I’m very glad we were able to go ahead. For many people, ourselves included, it’s really helped to celebrate the positivity and work that’s kind of just holding everything together. It has been an honour and a pleasure to read through all of this year’s nominations, seeing the warmth, love and appreciation you have for the work of your peers and colleagues across the games industry.

Thank you to everyone who has helped make it happen this year, from the huge support we’ve received from our event partners at Creative Assembly, No Brakes Games, EPOS, Etch Play, Aardvark Swift, Games Jobs Direct, the tireless work from our team of judges, and of course the several hundred of you that sent in nominations for your game dev heroes.

We received almost 700 nominations this year and creating the final shortlists was no easy task, let alone choosing the winners. There are a huge amount of talented and valued people working across the games industry, far more than appear in just our list, so it’s a privilege that we can bring more attention to many of those people behind the games we all love.

With so many nominations this year, the shortlists this year were packed with amazing people, genuinely causing a lot of tough decisions for our judges. For many of the categories it was close right up to the final votes.

And so… the winners of Game Dev Heroes 2020 are:

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Art + Animation Hero 2020

Loukia Kyriakidou

Artist & Character Designer

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Game Design Hero 2020

Fawzi Mesmar

Head of Design, EA DICE

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Sound Hero 2020

Jade Leamcharaskul

Composer & Sound Designer

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Programming Hero 2020

Laure De Mey

Programmer at ustwo Games

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QA Hero 2020

Holly Gordon

Associate Producer, Rocksteady Studios

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Production Hero 2020

Sally Morgan-Moore

Producer, No Brakes Games

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Writing + Narrative Design Hero 2020

Olivia Wood

Writer, Narrative Designer & Editor, Failbetter Games

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Marketing + Community Hero 2020

Oliver Hindle

Community Director, Mediatonic

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Unsung Hero 2020

Ian Hamilton

Accessibility Consultant

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Leadership Hero 2020

Richard Semmens

Technical Director, Rare Ltd

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Progression Advocate 2020

Marina Díez

CEO, 3ofCups Games

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Outstanding Contribution

Craig Duncan

Studio Head, Rare Ltd

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Thank you and congratulations to everyone, from all of us at Game Dev Heroes. We’ll be looking at our winners in more depth soon, showing you just why they mean so much to people, and why they have truly deserved their awards.

We’re very excited to reveal our judging team for 2020! As ever, the panel is an amalgam of games industry expertise, stocked with previous GDH winners and all-round good people who will be helping us to find the Game Dev Heroes for 2020!

Hey everyone,

By now you may have seen the news that the Develop:Brighton conference has been rescheduled to the 2nd – 4th November 2020 has been cancelled as a physical event and will now be moving to a digital event. As one of the conference’s unofficial fringe events, we’ve now confirmed new arrangements and will also be moving the date of the Game Dev Heroes awards.

Game Dev Heroes will now take place on Monday 2nd November 2020 at Komedia in Brighton.

Update : Game Dev Heroes will no longer be held as a physical event, and the winners will be revealed online, in the week commencing 12th October

What does this change mean for you, our potential attendees?

• Air conditioning is no longer A Key Issue Of Ongoing Concern.
• Comfy Autumn/Winter outfits are now in style.
• Warm drinks with cold pals instead of cold drinks with warm pals.

Further information about the event and its delightful contents will be made available later in the year.

It is also sensible to mention that we do not know what the outside world will hold for any of us seven months into the future. If we feel there is a need for further changes to our schedule, we will continue to keep you informed.

❤️🧡💛💚💜

Hey now, how does this affect the nominations!?

The nomination period for Game Dev Heroes 2020 has been extended until June 30th 2020.

You now have an extra two months to shout about your game dev heroes; the unsung heroes of the games industry who excel at what they do and have helped to inspire, lead and support those around them.

You can find out more about the award categories
and how to nominate your heroes over at gamedevheroes.co 

❤️🧡💛💚💜

Stay safe 💜

Dan