New publication – the 2025 GALA book of abstracts is now available to view: https://doi.org/10.82324/HORIZONS/AZ001

The GALA 2025 Serious Games Competition aims to celebrate the best digital games for learning in the world. Organised by the Games and Learning Alliance Conference as a friendly game contest, the awards are based on an analysis of the games by experts of the Serious Games.

The competition theme for this year is “Games for Good”. However, authors are welcome to submit any type of Serious Games, even if not aligned to this theme.

Shortlisted games will be promoted on the Serious Games Society social media channels. Authors will also be invited to write a short abstract for their game, which will be published in our annual book of abstracts.

The three shortlisted student games will also receive one free conference ticket and a €300 travel grant from our sponsor Center for Advanced Preparedness and Threat Response Simulation (CAPTRS).

Shortlisted games

Submission details

Submission deadline: 17th August 2025 (will not be extended)

The competition will reward games in each of the following categories:

• Academy: Serious Games that have been designed and produced in a scientific environment. If you have an experimental study related to your game, we highly recommend you also consider submitting your work to the GALA 2025 Call for Papers.
• Business: Serious Games that have been designed and produced by a professional game studio.
• Student: Serious Games that have been designed and produced by students (master’s degree or lower). 

Submission requirements

Games must be submitted via the Easychair system. Please see the guidance here for submitting your game.

Participants must submit a playable and executable version of the game, together with a demo video and a short description of the game. All submissions must include a README file with installation and playing instructions. For large files, please compress the folder using .zip format only.

Please note that previously submitted games are not eligible for repeat competition entry unless there has been a substantial update or change to the game.

What’s next? Frequently asked questions

When will the shortlist be announced?

All competition entrants will be contacted in the first week of October 2025 to confirm the outcomes of the shortlisting stage. The shortlist will also be communicated via the GALA social media channels shortly after.

What happens if my game is shortlisted?

If your game is shortlisted this means that your game will be in the running as possible winner for one of the submission categories. As such, the team or at least one person from the shortlisted game must attend to demonstrate their Serious Games at the GALA Exhibition at Utrecht University in Utrecht (The Netherlands), held during the conference.

My game is a physical tabletop game (board game/card game), can I still submit it?

Yes, but you need to submit a digital version of your game using Tabletopia (or equivalent) and a playtesting video. As the jurors are based around the world, a digital option is required for jurors to play the game.

We also welcome all games being demonstrated at the conference exhibition, regardless of submission statue.

How long should the demo video last?

A video between 5 – 8 minutes is generally enough to showcase the game experience. However, you can also send a longer gameplay video if you feel it is necessary.

What language can I submit my game in?

English is the preferred language for submissions and unfortunately this is the only language we can guarantee the jury will be able to work in. If submission in English is not possible, games can be accepted provided: 

• The game instructions are in English
• The games are easy to understand 
• The game is not completely reliant on language to function.

How is my game going to be assessed?

Our highly experienced jury uses a rating scale from 0 (lowest) to 5 (highest) to score each submission against 10 core criteria, plus the relevance to the conference theme.

These core criteria are:

• Effectiveness: the capability of the game to reach its learning objectives
• Efficiency: the capability of the game to reach its objectives without wasting time 
• Usability: ease/pleasantness of use and learnability
• Feedback and assessment support ease
• Exploitability in a learning context: how simple is to use the game in a real context
• Reusability in different learning contexts
• Capability of motivating the user (on the learning topic)
• Capability of engaging the user (in the gameplay)
• Originality: plot, characters, user interaction, etc.
• Technological Innovation and value: graphics, artificial intelligence, etc.

Would we still be eligible to win the category if we weren’t able to attend?

No. Attending the conference exhibition is required for the game to be awarded.

How should teams/individuals travel there? 

Please see the travel recommendations outlined on the conference website.

Will there be a stipend available for shortlisted games?

The 3 shortlisted student games will each be awarded a free ticket for the full conference and a 300€ travel grant provided by our sponsor CAPTRS. Unfortunately no other concessions are available.

Is it possible to give us an idea of how many submissions there were and how many participants there are now in the shortlist?

This information can be confirmed after the closing date for submissions.

Who can I contact for more help?

Please feel free to contact our competition committee with any further questions:

• Kristina Risley, University of Southampton: K.Risley@soton.ac.uk
• ​​René Röpke, TU Wien: rene.roepke@tuwien.ac.at
• Renée Otten, Utrecht University: r.otten@uu.nl