PaulH
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The Vancouver Film School, host of the upcoming Game Design Expo that I wrote about in January, have announced it is once again offering a $30,000 Women in Games Scholarship. This is second year in a row the educational institution has presented this outstanding funding opportunity -- the first of its kind in the world -- to aspiring female game designers. The winner of the scholarship will receive full funding to attend VFS's acclaimed one-year Game Design program, which covers all aspects of game design including storytelling, level design, game art, motion capture, scripting, cinematics, and the business of games. VFS is one of the top 10 schools favoured by video game industry recruiters, according to the Los Angeles Times.
With today being International Women's Day, a time that highlights the achievement of women and the need to create a more equal and rewarding future for girls, the VFS announcement is timely. The video game industry has historically been dominated by men -- around 90%, according to a Game Developer Magazine's 2009 Salary Survey -- and VFS established this scholarship to encourage greater opportunities for females wishing to pursue Game Design as a career.
Last year, the inaugural scholarship was awarded to Shannon Lee of Toronto, who is just beginning her third term of six in the program at Vancouver Film School. In addition to the Women in Games Scholarship, VFS also awarded six other scholarships, ranging from $2,500 to $7,000, thanks to the contribution by a number of Game Design Expo 2009 sponsors. Five of the six recipients of these scholarships were women.
“The Game Design program at VFS has been a very rewarding and enjoyable experience thus far,” Lee says. “Applying for the scholarship was the best decision I’ve ever made and I’m sure that the next recipient will feel the same.”
Female VFS Game Design graduates have gone on to work successfully in the industry, including Tara Mustapha and Charmie Kim of Microsoft Game Studios, Pamela Livara of Vancouver’s Slant Six, and Melanie Genereux of Longtail Studios in PEI.
Full details of this year’s Women in Games scholarship will be announced at the Game Design Expo on April 10-11, 2010.
The speaker lineup for this year's Game Design Expo 2010 includes Armando Troisi, Lead Cinematic Designer on Bioware's Mass Effect 2, who will be speaking about the game's groundbreaking approach to interactive narrative, and United Front Games' William Ho, who will explore user-generated content through the lens of the highly-anticipated PS3 title ModNation Racers.
Other speakers include creative movers from the legendary California-based developer Obsidian Entertainment (Alpha Protocol), Blue Castle Games (Dead Rising 2), Propaganda Games (Tron: Evolution), and Big Sandwich Games (Sky Pirates of Neo Terra). The day culminates with an industry panel hosted by Electric Playground’s Victor Lucas called “The Future of Gaming.”
For more information on the VFS Game Design Expo be sure to check out the event's website here.
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