Time to submit your projects for the 2017 Unity Awards! Submissions are officially open and we’re looking forward to feasting on everything that the Unity community has been creating for the past year. As usual, you all have been busy creating a load of amazing games, cinematic experiences, visualizations, and everything else inbetween. The Unity Awards are our way of recognizing many of the excellent creations made with Unity in the last year.

We do our best to keep on top of what’s been made but we want to make sure we don’t to miss anything. So while filling out the form is not absolutely required for your game to be considered for an award, it’s very helpful for us and is the best way to make sure what you’ve been working on is our our view.

Once all nominations have been received, Unity will narrow the entries down to six finalists in each category and then open up voting to the community for all categories. Community votes will account for 50% of the total vote with Unity employees accounting for the other 50%.

We are doing things a bit differently this year and are going 100% digital for the entire process. In lieu of a physical ceremony, winners will be announced online at the beginning of October and will be recognized on a Unity Awards website and at Unite Austin in view of more than 2000 conference attendees.

We’ve added a few new categories this year, so check the list to see where your project fits in! The categories this year include:

Best 3D Visuals – Modern technology has given artists the freedom to mold new 3D worlds whether they’re striving for realism or creating something wildly stylized. Submissions for this category will be judged based on artistic merit including thematic and stylistic cohesion, creativity, and/or technical skill. To qualify for the award, the majority of assets must be 3D.

– Modern technology has given artists the freedom to mold new 3D worlds whether they’re striving for realism or creating something wildly stylized. Submissions for this category will be judged based on artistic merit including thematic and stylistic cohesion, creativity, and/or technical skill. To qualify for the award, the majority of assets must be 3D. Best 2D Visuals – Beauty comes in all shapes and dimensions and there’s a different kind of artistry in creating beautiful 2D worlds and characters. Submissions for this category will be judged based on artistic merit including thematic and stylistic cohesion, creativity, and/or technical skill. To qualify for this award, the majority of in-game/project assets must be 2D.

– Beauty comes in all shapes and dimensions and there’s a different kind of artistry in creating beautiful 2D worlds and characters. Submissions for this category will be judged based on artistic merit including thematic and stylistic cohesion, creativity, and/or technical skill. To qualify for this award, the majority of in-game/project assets must be 2D. Best Desktop/Console Game – Whether simple, complex, or somewhere in between, a great gaming experience blends concept, intuitive control, innovation, creativity, visual design, and fun together into one blissfully wonderful package. We’re looking for games that excel in one or all of these areas.

– Whether simple, complex, or somewhere in between, a great gaming experience blends concept, intuitive control, innovation, creativity, visual design, and fun together into one blissfully wonderful package. We’re looking for games that excel in one or all of these areas. Best Mobile Game – As with Best Desktop/Console Game, we’re looking for excellent games with special attention paid to those designed with the unique challenges of smaller devices and screens in mind.

– As with Best Desktop/Console Game, we’re looking for excellent games with special attention paid to those designed with the unique challenges of smaller devices and screens in mind. Best VR Game – As with the other Best Game categories, we’re looking for excellent games while paying special attention to those games that are designed with the unique challenges of VR in mind and create a great sense of presence.

– As with the other Best Game categories, we’re looking for excellent games while paying special attention to those games that are designed with the unique challenges of VR in mind and create a great sense of presence. Best Augmented or Mixed Reality Experience – Immersive computing is is going to usher great change into our society in many subtle and bold ways. This is an open category to recognize the most creative use case of AR or MR across all industries.

– Immersive computing is is going to usher great change into our society in many subtle and bold ways. This is an open category to recognize the most creative use case of AR or MR across all industries. Best VizSim Project – Unity projects come in all shapes and sizes; this year we’re looking for projects that have some real world grounded applications like visualizations, simulations, and training programs.

– Unity projects come in all shapes and sizes; this year we’re looking for projects that have some real world grounded applications like visualizations, simulations, and training programs. Best Cinematic Experience – We’re looking for thoughtful, entertaining, and/or immersive new cinematic experiences where user agency takes a back seat to storytelling and observation.

– We’re looking for thoughtful, entertaining, and/or immersive new cinematic experiences where user agency takes a back seat to storytelling and observation. Best Non-game Project – Those that have created something that falls outside of games, cinematic experiences, or VizSim applications including art, creative tools, interactive books and comics, digital toys, interactive physical installations, and informational programs will want to submit for this award.

– Those that have created something that falls outside of games, cinematic experiences, or VizSim applications including art, creative tools, interactive books and comics, digital toys, interactive physical installations, and informational programs will want to submit for this award. Best Student Project – This award is for projects (games or otherwise) worked on by students currently being completed as part of the curriculum of an educational institution. Projects will be judged based on creativity, technical merit, and overall artistic cohesion among graphics, sound, and presentation.

– This award is for projects (games or otherwise) worked on by students currently being completed as part of the curriculum of an educational institution. Projects will be judged based on creativity, technical merit, and overall artistic cohesion among graphics, sound, and presentation. Asset Store Award for Best Tool – There are a load of brilliant developers extending Unity’s capabilities in really creative and powerful ways. With this award, we’re looking for excellent and helpful packages that add more options to developers’ tool chests.

– There are a load of brilliant developers extending Unity’s capabilities in really creative and powerful ways. With this award, we’re looking for excellent and helpful packages that add more options to developers’ tool chests. Asset Store Award for Best Artistic Content – Along with the full featured tools extending Unity’s capabilities, artists are busy creating assets that can be used and repurposed for a huge variety of projects. These can be anything from particle packs to full themed asset packs or even brilliant sound effects.

– Along with the full featured tools extending Unity’s capabilities, artists are busy creating assets that can be used and repurposed for a huge variety of projects. These can be anything from particle packs to full themed asset packs or even brilliant sound effects. Unity Impact Award – We’re looking for excellent games or experiences (of any kind – standard display, AR, MR, VR, etc.) that focus on social impact areas like education and healthcare. Award evaluation will be based on the number of players reached and the measurement of the social impact created.

– We’re looking for excellent games or experiences (of any kind – standard display, AR, MR, VR, etc.) that focus on social impact areas like education and healthcare. Award evaluation will be based on the number of players reached and the measurement of the social impact created. Golden Cube (best overall) – This award is for the best overall project made with Unity in the last year. Everything from technical achievement and visual styling to sound production and level of fun must be taken into account to choose the grandaddy of all of our awards. Finalists in all other categories will automatically be up for vote to become the winner of the Golden Cube.

And some important rules for submission that you’ll need to know:

Only Unity-authored projects are eligible for nomination.

Projects must have been released from October 1, 2016 to August 31, 2017 to be eligible, with the exception of Student Project submissions, which must have been part of the coursework in the 2016-2017 school year.

Any projects nominated for previous years of the Unity Awards are ineligible for the 2017 Unity Awards, with the exception of projects that were previous student work and have since turned into finished commercial projects.

Games currently in early access programs that are not considered “final” products by August 31, 2017 will not be accepted to the 2017 Unity Awards.

Individuals or teams are welcome to enter multiple projects so long as they adhere to all other rules.

So submit your creations! Tell your friends that released anything made with Unity this last year to submit their projects! And keep your eyes out at the beginning of September for another announcement that finalists have been selected and community voting has begun. We’re really looking forward to seeing all of your submissions!