4 - Nomination Procedures
Eligibility
Products eligible for the Annual Interactive Achievement Awards are those that meet all of the following requirements. The title must be:
1. Publicly available in its final general release form in North America between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005. Additionally, it must be available for evaluation in its release form for submission to the Academy by December 9, 2005, regardless of how it is being distributed.
2. Designed for use on at least one of the following platforms: a video game console or portable (hand-held) system, a computer running Windows, a Macintosh computer, a commercial game network, a wireless cell phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or for use on the Internet.
3. Title submissions will only be accepted if the Publisher of the title is a member in good standing with the Academy at the time of its nomination.
4. Submitted with all required materials, as outlined in the Submission Requirements section.
Note: Products NOT meeting these requirements will be ineligible, and no submission refund will be granted. The AIAS reserves the right to make final determination as to whether nomination submissions meet the eligibility requirements. AIAS reserves the right to refuse submissions in the case of which a full refund will be granted.
Nominations
The AIAS encourages nominations from any individual or company providing that nomination eligibility requirements are met. The AIAS may, but has no obligation to, disclose the name of, or any other information in regards to, a nominating party. The AIAS reserves the right to disclose the names of all nominees after the submission deadline. After disclosure any nominee may withdraw from consideration.
Each application enters the nominated game or title for consideration in AT LEAST ONE Craft category, and ONLY ONE genre category. A title may be submitted for consideration in any and all of the Craft Categories. All titles entered are considered for the overall Game of the Year Award, the appropriate platform Game of the Year Award, and the Outstanding Innovation in Gaming Award.
Peer panelists in a preliminary vote will select up to 5 finalists each for Game of the Year, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming Award, Computer Game of the Year Award, Cellphone Game of the Year Award, and Console Game of the Year Award from among all nominated titles.
Submission Requirements
Deadline: All nominations and submission material must be received by the AIAS by 5:00 pm PST on Friday, December 9, 2005. The AIAS reserves the right to extend the deadline or to accept or refuse nominations after the deadline in its sole discretion.
Submission materials: Each nomination must include the following items:
1. Completed and signed nomination form. The entire form must be filled out and contact information completed by nominating party.
2. Sixteen (16) copies of the title for nomination in the Game of the Year and Innovation categories and an additional 16 copies for evaluation for each additional category that it is submitted (being that every title will be in at least one Craft category, one Genre category, and the Game of the Year/Innovation categories, a minimum of 48 copies will be needed for every title – each additional Craft nomination will warrant 16 additional copies). The AIAS will mark all materials before distribution. Materials will not be
returned. Materials can be produced/playable media and instruction booklets and maps. Nominees from pay game networks must arrange free access for the AIAS peer panelists participating in the finalist screening process. Online submissions require URL address, password and navigation path.
3. Full payment of submission fees $1,000 per title for consideration, as defined above. The Academy is a non-profit organization.
4. Optional materials which may be submitted: synopsis on the genre or craft achievement (not to exceed 250 words); cheat codes; recordings for titles submitted for consideration in the Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack, and Original Musical Composition categories.
5 - Peer Panels
Introduction
Peer panels were established to narrow the number of nominees per category. The number of nominees in each category became overwhelming and it was unreasonable to expect that all Academy members would play the 200+ games nominated each year.
For each genre and craft category there is a Peer Panel, which is made up of 8 - 12 Active Creative/Technical Academy members. The peer panels are responsible for evaluating the entire list of nominees for a category and narrowing the selection. The peer panels are expected to play all nominated games in their categories and through
discussions and internal votes, determine the strongest candidates on which the Academy membership will vote to choose the overall winner.
By creating peer panels for each category where the panelists are committed to playing all of the nominated games, the Academy can ensure that the membership is presented with a refined list of strong games for the final voting process. Additionally, with an average of five finalists in each category, itÂ’s more likely that the general membership
will have played all of the games they vote on.
Peer Panel Leaders
Responsibilities
Each peer panel has a leader who is responsible for:
• Assembling the panel in a timely fashion
• Communicating write-ins to the academy
• Ensuring that all panelists have the games they need for evaluation
• Initiating discussions once panelists have finished playing the games
• Managing the voting process to determine finalists in the category
• Submitting finalists to the academy
Qualifications
Peer panel leaders are senior professional members of the industry who have experience directly related to the panel they lead. For instance, a Senior Art Director might be expected to lead the Art Direction panel. Peer panel leaders must be Active Creative/Technical members of the Academy.
Approval
Each year the Academy first asks previous yearÂ’s peer panel leaders if theyÂ’re interested in serving again. Additionally, the Academy will accept requests from members who are interested in being peer panel leaders. If there is a vacancy, the Membership Committee will evaluate the candidates for the position and choose the peer panel leader based on industry experience.
Terms
There are no terms for peer panel leaders.
Peer Panelists
Responsibilities
Each peer panelist is responsible for:
• Suggesting write-in nominees
• Playing all nominated games
• Giving evaluations of the games
• Voting within the peer panels to determine finalists
• Participating in a preliminary vote to determine Game of Year and Innovation Finalists
Qualifications
Peer panelists must be Active Creative/Technical members and have expertise in the panelÂ’s category.
Approval
The approval process for peer panelists is the same as that of the peer panel leaders; each year the Academy invites the previous yearÂ’s peer panelists to serve again. Membership Services confirms that peer panelists are Active/Creative Members in good standing.
If there is a vacancy on any panel the Academy will post a call for panelists on its website and the Awards Committee will choose the peer panelists based on industry experience.
Terms
There are no terms for peer panelists.
Peer Panel Procedures
Step 1 – Filling the panel
Timeline: September 30 – October 17
Peer panel leaders are contacted by the Academy, asked if they want to serve again, and contact information is confirmed. The Academy gives the leaders email contact information for all current panelists. If there are vacancies, the leaders and the Academy work together to fill them. At this point, even though nominees have not
yet been submitted, panel members should make an effort to play games in their category in preparation for the upcoming process.
Step 2 – Determining write-in nominees
Timeline: by December 1
The peer panel leader then is responsible for submitting a list of write-in nominees to the Academy agreed upon by the panel.
Explanation of Write-Ins
Write-ins are titles that were not nominated by publishers or developers that the peer panel unanimously agrees should be considered as nominees. These write-in nominees if they qualify will – like any other nominee also be considered for the Game of the Year awards. Peer panelists are responsible for obtaining copies of these games on their own.
Like regular nominees, write-in candidates must have been published between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005 and their publishers must be AIAS members to qualify. The AIAS board will contact the appropriate parties to secure their admission.
Step 3 – Getting the games
Timeline: Starting December 6
As soon as nominations are submitted and the Awards Committee has ensured that all games are assigned to the right categories, the Academy gives the panelists the list of final nominees. The panelists must immediately send the Academy or the appropriate peer leader requests for games. The Academy will mail the requested games.
Step 4 – Preliminary Voting for GOY Finalists and Innovation Finalists
Timeline: December 19 – January 4
The Academy will hold a special preliminary vote open only to peer leaders and peer panelists to determine five finalists each for the following game categories:
• Game of the Year
• Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
• Computer Game of the Year
• Console Game of the Year
• Cellphone Game of the Year
Step 5 – Ranking the games
Timeline: by January 4
The panel determines the final rankings of the nominees and submits its top finalists to the Academy. The maximum number of finalists is never greater than five and the minimum is determined by the following metric:
Minimum Finalists Table
13 or more nominees = minimum of 5 finalists
10 - 12 nominees = minimum of 4 finalists
7 - 9 nominees = minimum of 3 finalists
5 - 8 nominees = minimum of 2 finalists
1 - 4 nominees = minimum of 1 finalist
To determine which games become finalists, the Academy strongly suggests that the peer panels hold an internal vote with each peer panelist ranking all of the games. The peer panel leader can tabulate the votes and submit the top finalists to the Academy. In the event that two games tie for fifth place, the Academy suggests that a separate
internal vote be held to choose between the two.
Step 6 – General Membership Voting
Timeline: January 12 – January 24
To determine the winners in each category, the Academy will facilitate a general membership vote.
Conflicts of Interest
Since there are often occasions when a peer panelist has helped to create a nominated game, to prevent conflicts of interest it is required that peer panelists abstain from ranking their own games during these internal votes. Instead, when that peer panelist is ranking his games that game should receive a ranking equal to the average of everyone elseÂ’s vote for the game and the rest of that peer panelistÂ’s rankings will be adjusted accordingly.
