Informa Tech, organizer of the 2020 Game Developers Conference (GDC), is now accepting submissions for the 22nd annual Independent Games Festival (IGF), the longest running festival, summit and showcase of independent games.

The IGF is part of the Game Developers Conference 2020, which will take place from March 16th through March 20th at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center. Entries for all of the IGF categories will be accepted now through September 30, 2019, with finalists announced in early January 2020.

Finalists will be selected by hundreds of industry peers across game development & media, with specially selected juries picking the winner of each award. As well as the prestige of the nomination or win, tens of thousands of dollars in prize money and stipends will be awarded again this year.

The IGF will nominate standout titles for Excellence in Visual Art, Excellence in Audio, Excellence in Design, Excellence in Narrative and Best Student Game, with six finalists each. The special Nuovo Award, which honors the title that 'makes the jurors think differently about games as a medium', will have eight finalists.

The IGF Audience Award will be decided by a public vote from all of the competition finalists. Finally, six finalists will be selected to compete for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Each of these prizes will award $2,000 for the winner, with $10,000 for the Grand Prize winner. And, new for this year, all Independent Games Festival finalists will receive a $1,000 stipend, regardless of whether they win an award.

Outside of the Festival itself, the affiliated alt.ctrl.GDC Award ($2,000) will be given out during the IGF ceremony, honoring intriguing and inventive games using unique one-of-a-kind controllers. Finalists and the winner for this award will be picked from entries into the popular on-site GDC 2020 exhibit of the same name.

The Independent Games Festival has served as a springboard for games that have gone on to become critical and cultural hits. Previous IGF prize winners from the past 20 years include Return of the Obra Dinn, Night in the Woods, Quadrilateral Cowboy, Her Story, Papers, Please, Spelunky, Minecraft, Limbo, World of Goo, Braid, Castle Crashers, Everyday Shooter and many more of the game industry's breakthrough independent titles.

Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent game developers. Important dates for IGF 2020 are as follows:

�--� July 30, 2019 - Submissions are Open

�--� September 30, 2019 - Submission Deadline

�--� Early January, 2020 - IGF Finalists Announced

�--� March 16 - March 20, 2020 - Game Developers Conference 2020

�--� March 16 - March 17, 2020 - Independent Games Summit @ GDC 2020

�--� March 18 - March 20, 2020 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC 2020

�--� March 18, 2020 - IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners announced)

This year, Independent Games Festival organizers are particularly interested in receiving submissions from those making interesting or experimental works who might otherwise not enter because of the fee.

Those under-represented creators interested in applying for a waiver on the full ($75) entry fee can find additional details and the waiver application form on the submissions page. Entries should be submitted by September 13th, and if selected, they will be given the opportunity to enter IGF 2020 for free.

For more information on the 2020 Independent Games Festival, including submission specifics and frequently asked questions, please visit the official Independent Games Festival website. IGF entries can be submitted here.

For more information on GDC 2020 in general visit the show’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS. Official photos are available via the Official GDC Flickr account.

Gamasutra, GDC, and the IGF are sibling organizations under parent company Informa