WINGS presents the Gender Diversity Award, Spotlighting the Incredible Talent of the A MAZE Festival
WINGS is very proud to once again team up with the A MAZE playful media festival to present the third annual “Gender Diversity Award”, recognizing outstanding games in which women and other gender marginalised developers hold key positions.
Our mission at WINGS is to support gender diverse teams with funding and opportunities to grow the incredible work they do in games. The Gender Diversity Award presented by WINGS is given to one of five nominees selected from the A MAZE festival, with this year’s winner receiving a 2000€ prize.
Past winners of the Gender Diversity Award include games with diverse artistic vision and creativity, from exceptionally talented developers who are passionate about sharing their unique point of view.
2022 Winner: Faezeh — A Rejection Story
A Rejection Story is an interactive story about the challenges of finding your dream job and the ways to deal with the stress of waiting for an answer.
“It was inspired,” explains Faezeh, “by my own attempts to find a job in the game industry and the roller coaster of emotions that I faced after sending each application.”
Growing up in Iran, she studied architecture while nurturing a passion for game design through self-taught materials and eventually went on to make games, including A Rejection Story which deeply resonated with some players.
“What I learned from this experience is that if you are passionate about something, you don’t need to worry about the results, and the audience will find you in the end.”
2023 Winner: natsha — Psychotic Bathtub
Psychotic Bathtub deals with Ophelia’s experience with her slightly odd, highly disturbing, and entirely unique psychotic disorder in her bathtub. Each of your interactions may lead to death, great joy, or even worse. Will you find a way out of the really scary parts of your mind?
“Psychotic disorders run in my family,” natsha reveals. “I have witnessed how affected family members are pushed to the margins of society and how destructive such a disorder can be. Accordingly, I established the objective of destigmatizing psychotic disorders through Psychotic Bathtub and making them accessible.”
As a developer making a deeply personal game, natsha found support from the game community, and people sharing their stories, thoughts and feelings. And she plans to give back by donating part of the game’s profit to mental health research.
“I am thrilled about winning Gender Diversity Award at A MAZE. Being awarded in this category means even more to me. It assures me in my mission as a designer: I aim to de-stigmatize dark themes and to make them accessible.”
The Gender Diversity Award returns to A MAZE 2024 and WINGS is excited to see so many outstanding games being created by women and other gender marginalised developers. The A MAZE playful media festival takes place on May 8–11, 2024 with the awards show streaming LIVE on Friday May 10th at 10AM CET — be sure to tune in to see all the winner announcements, including the winner of this year’s Gender Diversity Award!
