Calling all public middle and high school students from Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Detroit, Atlanta, and New York City! Games for Change has opened the submission portal for the third annual G4C Student Challenge. If you are a middle or high public school student in any of those five cities, you are eligible to submit. The submission deadline is:
| CITY | EXTENDED DEADLINE |
| Atlanta | April 30th |
| Los Angeles | May 7th |
| Detroit | May 14th |
| New York City | May 14th |
| Pittsburgh | May 21st |
Games must be playable on a web browser and about one of the challenge theme(s) available in your city. Here is the list of 2018 themes offered in each city:
NYC: Kindness & Empathy, News Literacy, Wildlife Conservation & Connected Cities
LA: Kindness & Empathy, News Literacy, Wildlife Conservation
Pittsburgh: Kindness & Empathy, News Literacy, Wildlife Conservation
Atlanta: Connected Cities
Detroit: Connected Cities
Learn more about how to get involved here. We’re looking forward to your submissions!
About the G4C Student Challenge
The G4C Student Challenge is a digital game design competition that invites students to create games about issues impacting their communities. In select public schools, G4C offers student game design courses facilitated by teachers trained and supported by national curriculum partner Mouse. Winners receive prizes such as games, technology, mentorship and more! An awards ceremony and exhibition of student games will be hosted in each city in June 2018, and grand prize winners will be honored at the 15th annual G4C Festival (June 28-30) in New York City.
Student game designers have access to many resources in making their games. On the challenge website, we provide multimedia content about each challenge theme and over 150 resources for both students and teachers, including a gallery of example games and Get Started Guides. Professional game designers serve as classroom advisors to students, and game jams held in each city offer further opportunities for students to learn game design and programming, diving deeply into the theme topics with local technologists, architects, conservationists and other civic leaders.
Participants & Partners
Last year, 748 students submitted nearly 400 games across 3 participant cities, and this year is looking to be even bigger, with 5 cities total and many more students and teachers involved. Through the Challenge’s hands-on game design program, students develop 21st-century skills such as systems thinking and inquiry-based learning by both designing games and engaging in civic problem solving. Teachers learn to use game design as a teaching tool, and communities benefit from students’ active engagement in local issues.
The national G4C Student Challenge program is run by Games for Change in collaboration with Mouse and Institute of Play, with a coalition of local partners in each participating city and with generous support from the Annenberg Foundation, General Motors, the Grable Foundation, iThrive Games, Unity Education, Take Two Interactive, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bigglesworth Family Foundation. The full list of 2017-18 program partners can be found on the Student Challenge website here.
G4C is currently seeking partners for the 2019 program. If you are interested in becoming a supporter or bringing the challenge to your city, please email us at [email protected].