Independent Games Festival

[1] Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, and innovation in video game development by CMP Media,[2] later known as UBM Technology Group, IGF is now owned by Informa after UBM's acquisition.

[2] The main Independent Games Festival, held in March 2012 at San Francisco's GDC 2012, distributed nine major awards:[2] An additional award, "Excellent in Narrative", was added for the 2013 IGF.

[5] In addition, the IGF's Student Showcase competition gives out the following awards each year: Prior to the Festival, developers have the opportunity to submit their game in a playable state to the IGF organization committee for a small fee.

Then, for each award category, a pre-selected jury of between seven and fifteen members reviews the nominations and makes a final selection of six finalists (eight for the Nuovo award) and a number of honorable mentions.

The only exception is the Audience Award, which is voted through online forms by anyone interested.