BAFTA Young Game Designers is a gaming competition that is open to children from the ages 11 to 16. The program is not just the competition, it is also filled with many resources for students who aspire to be in the gaming industry. This past weekend, Rhianna Hawkins from Taunton, Somerset became the first female to ever win an award at the BAFTA Young Game Designers Competition.
Hawkins was the winner of this year’s Game Concept Award for her mobile game Tomatos Role. The game focuses on the tomato wanting to be respected in society as a fruit. The tomato works towards being just as famed as a banana, strawberry or a kiwi. The concept of the game is for the tomato to reach the spoon before it runs out of time. The timing is set on a Best Before clock and the tomato will age as the time decreases.
Here are some of the prizes: the University of Abertay, Dundee will help turn their game into an app, a whole year of Warner Bros. games, and two PS3 and three PS Vita consoles for their school, complete with LittleBigPlanet software!
Rhianna Hawkins was not the only big winner. Adam Oliver also took the Game Making Award for AlienX, it was Oliver’s third time in the final round of the competition. As most people know already the gaming industry is very male-dominated. I want to applaud BAFTA for it’s work with the youth and exposing them to these opportunities early on. You can learn more about Rhianna Hawkin’s game as well as the BAFTA Young Game Designers Competition here.
