Pictured above is Alicia Crawford, winner of the latest Gamers In Real Life (G.I.R.L.) Scholarship from Sony Online Entertainment and Scholarship America, but G.I.R.L. isn’t the only game in town when it comes to scholarships for women looking to enter the video game industry. The Vancouver Film School is currently holding its fourth annual Women In Games Scholarship.
The scholarship is held partly in conjunction with the Game Design Expo, now in its sixth year, where that years details and other scholarship information is given. According to the VFS website, “Inaugurated in 2009, the Women in Games scholarship is a full-tuition scholarship for one female game designer and aims to increase the profile of, and opportunities for, women in the game industry. Previous winners include Shannon Lee, Annie Dickerson, and Larissa Baptista.”
“Once again I am proud to be a part of our annual Women in Games Scholarship. Our past winners have gone on to do amazing things in the game industry once they graduated, and we expect more great things from our most recent winners,” said Head of Game Design at VFS, Dave Warfield. “Supporting the growth of women in games is something that I feel strongly about; it benefits the industry to gain new perspectives, creativity, and passion that is reflective of how gaming has changed and expanded in the past five years.”
The Game Design program at the VFS lasts one year and the scholarship, hailed as the first of its kind, is for a full tuition worth up to $49,000. Their application says it, “mimics the game development and production environment, so that our graduates are as prepared as possible to begin their careers in this rapidly growing and exciting industry.”
“In a field traditionally dominated by men, the scholarship is a great opportunity and incentive for women looking to pursue a career in game design,” they write, also promoting past students’ achievements. “Previous recipients of the scholarship include designers who’ve gone on to work at developers like Microsoft’s BigPark studio (Kinect Joy Ride) and Digido Interactive (MotionMaze). Graduates of the program have worked on titles such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dead Rising 2, Prototype 2, and Star Wars: The Old Republic.”
Sound like something you’d be interested in? Fill out the application now.
(via Gamasutra)
