GEE! Award Official Rules

June 1 - Game Applications due, Judges & Leads announced
June 15 - Finalists Announced, People’s Choice voting opens
June 21 - Analog Games must have been received by mail
July 1 - Finalists Announced, People’s Choice voting opens
August 21 - Winners announced
- Streaming of select finalist games at Play Make Learn (opt-in)

All game applications must be received on time.
Finalists must provide a video featuring gameplay for judging and website use by the due date to be considered for judging.
Finalists to the Analog category must provide 1 copy of the game to Judges in Madison, WI by the due date (July 21) to be considered for judging. The game will not be returned.
Finalists are required to attend the hybrid award ceremony at Play Make Learn.
A $150 fee is required for entry for all categories other than the Small/Indie and Analog awards.

The game must:
- Be designed with defined educational or learning goals.
- Be functional/playable.
- NOT have been submitted for a previous GEE! Award.
- NOT violate copyright or any other laws.
- NOT be a quiz or workplace training game, those are outside the scope of this award.
- NOT require hardware to run beyond a computer or tablet/phone (iOS or Android). For example: no VR-only games.
If the game requires fluency in a language other than English, please check with us before submitting.
- We love our international games but are not always staffed to evaluate gameplay in languages other than English.
To enter for the Small/Indie competition, the applicant must have received less than $100k in funding for the game, including staff time, grants/gifts, & organizational materials.
To ensure fair judging:
- Competition Chairs cannot apply.
- Judges/Leads and their host organization cannot apply within their own category - contact us if there are any potential conflicts of interest.

Finalists and Winners will receive a license to use the GEE! Award logo on their promotional materials
- Awards announced at the Play Make Learn conference
Winners will be featured together at a dedicated session at Play Make Learn
Finalists and Winners will be highlighted online

GEE Game Design Awards may adjust the number of categories/awards based on the number of submissions

All competitions will use the following rubric as a baseline, but can add additional metrics as necessary

Does it promote learning in the terms James Paul Gee described?
- See Jim Gee’s Principles for Game-Based Learning.
Is fun and/or compelling?
Does it look cool and work accurately?
Is it original?

For the People’s Choice award, finalists can begin campaigning as soon as being notified they are a finalist. Votes are collected via form.