E-Line Media and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center are proud to honor the winners of the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge at the Games for Change Festival. Announced at the White House by President Obama in 2010, the National STEM Challenge encourages youth in grades 5-12 to design original video games as a way of building a motivation for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The 2013 competition, sponsored by the Entertainment Software Association, AMD Foundation, Institute of Library and Museum Services, NYC Hive and Microsoft, honors the top original video games and game design concepts across 14 categories. This year’s 16 youth winners’ games which were selected from nearly 4000 entries will be recognized as part of the G4C Awards Ceremony.
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and E-Line Media are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge. This year, we received close to 4,000 entries — and not only did more students enter the competition than in previous years, but their games were more complex, challenging and creative than ever before. We were blown away by the energy that students put into their games, the number of platforms they used to develop them (over 15!) and the support that they received from the hundreds of teachers and mentors that got involved.
Click here to read more about the winning games or view the press release.
Due to unprecedented demand from youth, educators and parents across the United States over the past week, and our interest in making sure that everyone who has begun an application to the STEM Challenge will have the opportunity to successfully complete their game designs, we are extending the deadline for all submissions from Wednesday, April 24 to Wednesday, May 1 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time.
If you encounter any technical difficulties in completing applications or simply wish to speak to a Challenge staff member who can answer last minute questions, please email us at stem.challenge@sesame.org.
Thanks so much for your enthusiasm—we can’t wait to see your games!
Go to the Museums & Libraries section to check out our wonderful new resources created for museums and libraries by Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, and E-Line Media.
Playing video games is a favorite activity for many teens and tweens. Video game design is a natural extension of that activity and creates new pathways for STEM learning and exploration of STEM careers. IMLS has held two free webinars, one for library staff and one for museum staff, to explain how to involve youth in video game design and encourage entries in the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge. IMLS is a National Community Sponsor of the Challenge, a multi-year competition inspired by President Obama’s Educate to Innovate Campaign.
You can access the webinars here along with other BrainPOP webinars: http://www.brainpop.com/
Read a new article from the Scratch team on how Scratch can simplify game design. For more on Scratch, visit our Tools page.
Read this post by Alex Games, one of our Game Design Experts and a Learning & Engagement Scientist at Microsoft, on how game design and Kodu can drive creative STEM thinking.
For more on Kodu, visit our Tools page.
Gamers at the Smithsonian Museum exhibit
The 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge is now open for registration!
Sign up now! You have until April 24 to submit your game. Check out the Students section to learn about the game-design platforms that are available, and be sure to check out all the great resources that we’ve uploaded for you.