Terms and Conditions Talent Award 

By participating in the “Talent Award” competition, participants accept the following conditions of participation: 

1. Organizer and objective
   1. The Talent Award is organized by the “Pioneers of Game Development Austria – Verband österreichischer Spieleentwickler”, Lassallestrasse 3/7.OG, 1020 Vienna (hereinafter referred to as the “Organizer”). The implementation, in particular the award ceremony during the LEVEL UP Festival, is carried out together with the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences and the organizers of the LEVEL UP Festival.
   2. The aim of the Talent Award is,
      1. to give participants the opportunity to present their game projects to a wider audience. The submitted titles will be advertised on various communication channels and a shortlist will be invited to the LEVEL UP Festival;
      2. to promote young talent in game development in Austria and to support a possible entrance into the industry after completing training;
      3. to support student projects with commercialization and associated entrepreneurship;
      4. to give educational institutions in the field of games a presentation opportunity in order to honor the excellent work that is being done here in various federal states and to draw more public attention to it.
      5. to contribute to making it visible to a wider audience that game development exists in Austria and that it is an exciting professional field that offers many opportunities and interests that are already very well supported by high-quality training8
2.  Eligibility to participate
   1. All active pupils and students who are currently enrolled at a school, university or university of applied sciences are eligible to participate. The school, university or university of applied sciences must offer a focus or at least subject-specific courses in the field of game development. All participants significantly involved in the project must fulfill this criterion.
   2. Persons from the industry or teachers who teach at a school, university or university of applied sciences from which projects have been submitted are excluded as jurors for the entire evaluation process
3. Participation and procedure
   1. The Talent Award will be held as a competition during a period determined by the organizer.
   2. The competition and the publication of the submissions will be carried out in particular via the PGDA website and via relevant social media channels of the organizer
   3. The Talent Award will be carried out according to the following basic procedure:
      1. In order to participate in the Talent Award, interested persons/project teams must register on time using the application form.
      2. Participation in the Talent Award takes place by submitting a game project and accompanying documents within the submission period.
      3. A jury selected by the organizer will evaluate the submitted projects based on a list of criteria provided by the organizer. In the interests of transparency, this list of criteria will be published prior to submission.
      4. After completion of the jury evaluations, the organizer will inform all participants of the respective results by e-mail.
      5. The jury will select three (3) projects from all submissions for a shortlist, which will be invited to present their projects to a broad audience at the LEVEL UP Festival at a stand provided by the organizer and LEVEL UP.
      6. At the LEVEL UP Festival, the winning project will be selected and presented with appropriate media support
   4. The organizer is not obliged to provide the participants with further details about their evaluation, which go beyond the information on advancement to the shortlist or winning the main prize.
   5. All submissions must be received within the deadlines announced by the organizer. Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered.
   6. The organizer assumes no liability towards the participants for losses or damage of any kind caused to them by or in connection with their participation in the Talent Award. This does not apply to personal injury caused by the organizer and damage caused intentionally or through gross negligence on the part of the organizer.
4. Submission
   1. A complete submission for the Talent Award must include:
      1. Playable version of the game shared as an executable or through access codes for the Steam platform.
      2. Information sheet with detailed explanation of the installation and controls of the game.
      3. Pitch deck with a maximum of ten (10) pages/slides.
      4. Video trailer with a maximum playing time of two (2) minutes.
      5. Video showing pure gameplay with a maximum duration of five (5) minutes.
      6. Cover picture, so-called packshot vertical 600*900
      7. At least three (3) screenshots
   2. All relevant files, documents and information must be submitted via the application form.
   3. Games for the following platforms are eligible:
      1. PC
      2. Mobile
      3. VR
5. Award
   1. The participants of the winning project will be provided with a presentation space by the organizer at the joint WKO stand at gamescom in Cologne in the same year in order to present the project to an international specialist audience. This prize has a monetary value of ca. EUR 5,000.
   2. In addition to the presentation opportunity at gamescom, the organizer will provide a six-month mentoring program, with the help of which the winning team – if commercialization of the project is planned – can take the first steps in founding a company and handling the project on an ongoing basis within a predefined maximum time frame, accompanied by industry people with many years of experience.
   3. The payment of a non-cash prize is excluded.
6. Deadlines
   1. The specific deadlines for submission, announcement of the jury’s decision and award ceremony can be found in the official announcements of the organizer on the PGDA website.
7. Exclusion and rejection
   1. The organizer reserves the right to reject submissions at its own justified discretion and/or to exclude participants from the Talent Award, in particular if
      1. Participants provide false or misleading information in the submission;
      2. Participants according to 2.1. are not eligible to participate;
      3. Submissions are in obvious contradiction to the objectives of the Talent Award according to point 1.2.;
      4. Submissions contain offensive or otherwise inappropriate content;
      5. Submissions violate applicable law and/or common decency;
      6. Submissions violate trademarks, design, copyright or other property rights and/or personal rights and/or the fundamental right to data protection of third parties.
   2. Participants are obliged to notify the organizer immediately in writing of the occurrence of any grounds for exclusion/rejection.
   3. The organizer will inform affected participants of an exclusion or rejection of a submission by e-mail and briefly justify the decision.
8. Granting of rights
   1. By providing the assets and information via the application form, the participants grant the organizer the free, non-exclusive, sublicensable, temporally and geographically unrestricted right to use, reproduce, publish and make available the material within the framework of the Talent Award on the PGDA & LEVEL UP website, its social media channels and in any other form of exploitation. This includes in particular the public online provision, the digital reproduction of videos & screenshots and the reproduction of excerpts and screenshots in printed works of the organizer and/or the LEVEL UP Festival.
   2. Participants agree that the organizer may publish the team’s name as well as the first names and the first letter of the surname of the participants of a team when using the submissions and in other publications (e.g. on the website of the PGDA and/or the LEVEL UP Festival).
   3. Participants expressly declare that they are free to dispose of the rights to the material provided in accordance with point 6.a.vi and that they are able to grant these rights to the organizer. Participants further confirm that neither personal rights nor the fundamental right to data protection of third parties are violated by the submission.
9. Declaration on AI-generated content
   1. If the participants use AI-generated content in any way for the creation of the project or the assets required for the submission, these must be individually and explicitly labeled and advertised.
10. Data protection
    1. The organizer is committed to adequately protecting the personal data of the participants and any supporters. The organizer therefore observes the applicable legal provisions on the protection, lawful handling and confidentiality of personal data as well as on data security.
    2. The organizer will only process personal data as described in the Talent Award’s privacy policy.
11. Other
    1. By participating in the Talent Award, participants confirm that they have read and accept these conditions of participation.
    2. Legal recourse is excluded.
12. Criteria catalog jury

The following points provide an insight into the jury’s assessment and the weighting of the criteria mentioned in the overall context of the submissions.

1. 1. Build/playable version (35 points)
      1. Originality and creativity compared to existing student projects (15 points)
      2. Degree of innovation, such as new features, immersive narrative technique and interaction, further development of existing technology, new graphical/visual approach (10 points)
      3. Experience for the player from entry/start to the satisfying end of the game experience (10 points)
   2. Pitch deck (20 points)
      1. Content (10 points)
      2. Quality of visual assets (5 points)
      3. Presentation of the commercial potential (5 points)
   3. Trailer & screenshots (15 points)
      1. Narrative structure
      2. Audio
      3. Visual & cinematographic quality
   4. PR Factsheet (5 points)
      1. Clear presentation of the project, USPs & KPIs
   5. Commercial potential (15 points
      1. USPs
      2. Platforms
      3. Development strategy (if available)
      4. Financing
      5. Marketing strategy
   6. Overall presentation and interaction of all assets (10 points)
      1. Interaction of all the above points to create a rounded whole

Data protection regulations Talent Award

Below you will find information on the processing of your data as part of the Talent Award

1. Who is responsible for processing my personal data?
   • The “Pioneers of Game Developers Austria – Verband österreichischer Spieleentwickler” (PGDA), Lassallestrasse 3/7.OG, A – 1020 Vienna are responsible for the processing of your data. You can contact the PGDA team by e-mail at info@pgda.at
2. For what purposes and on what legal basis is my personal data processed?
   • PGDA processes your data in order to carry out the Talent Award, to promote the Talent Award and to stay in contact with you.
   • We process your data on the basis of the consent you give us to process your data. You can withdraw your consent at any time. In this case, we will delete your data and will no longer use it for promotional activities for the Talent Award.
   • You will not receive any advertising mailings from us.
3. To whom will my personal data be transmitted?
   • We do not transfer your data to third parties. Only persons who are necessary to promote the Talent Award (e.g. persons from the PGDA board) will have access.
   • In order to give the projects, i.e. persons who receive a stand at the LEVEL UP Festival due to the shortlist selection, access to the event, first and last name as well as project title will be transmitted to the organizers of the LEVEL UP Festival, as well as the FH Salzburg, host of the Indie Games Area.
   • In order to enable the winning project and its team to participate in gamescom and to use the stand at the joint stand organized by the WKO, the full names of the winning team will be handed over to the responsible persons within the WKO for the purpose of issuing an exhibitor ticket.
   • Furthermore, the PGDA will make the data provided by participants in the web form and the submitted videos available to the jury as part of the evaluation process so that they can be evaluated.
   • The PGDA will not otherwise pass on the data provided by participants in the web form to third parties or allow them to use it for advertising purposes, unless publication is described in the following paragraph.
   • In order to carry out and promote the Talent Award, you agree that the PGDA may only use, reproduce, publish and make available the personal data specified below and provided by participants in the web form on the PGDA website, in social media channels and in any other form of exploitation. This includes in particular the public online provision of the video, the digital reproduction of the video and the reproduction of excerpts and screenshots in printed works.
   • Processed data of the participants: Video submission, texts provided, team & project names and school/university where the team is currently in training.
4. How long will my personal data be stored?
   • The PGDA will store your personal data for as long as is necessary to carry out all Talent Award activities and for the Talent Award application.
   • You can withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal data at any time by sending an email to info@pgda.at. PGDA will then delete your data and will no longer use it for advertising purposes. Only your consent to the publication of the data mentioned under point 3 will be retained so that we can prove that you have consented to the publication of your personal data up to that point
5. What rights do I have in relation to my processed personal data?
   • You have the right to information about your personal data, to rectification, to erasure, to restriction of processing or to object to processing. If you wish to exercise these rights, please contact us by sending an email to info@pgda.at.
6. Is there a right of appeal to a supervisory authority?
   • Yes, the competent supervisory authority is the data protection authority (www.dsb.gv.at).
7. Relationship with YouTube
   • If you use YouTube as part of your video submission, you only send us a link to a video uploaded to YouTube. PGDA has no influence on your legal relationship with YouTube.
   • Please note YouTube’s privacy policy before uploading your video to YouTube.