Women in Games Scholarship
$50,000 awarded.
June 1, 2010 – Vancouver, BC – Vancouver Film School (VFS), Canada’s premier post-secondary entertainment arts institution and one of the most distinguished in the world, today awarded the second annual Women in Games Scholarship to Anne Dickerson, a former 4th grade teacher from Washington, DC.
Established as a means to encourage aspiring female game designers and provide them with greater opportunities for a career in the game industry, the scholarship is valued at $49,250 and covers the full tuition to VFS’s acclaimed one-year Game Design program, named by L.A. Times as a Top 10 school "favoured by industry recruiters”.
A worthy recipient, Anne was an elementary school teacher at a challenging city school when she first began designing games in an effort to increase literacy and math skills, address behavioural issues, and encourage a love of learning amongst her students. The scholarship to VFS will allow Anne to experience one intensive year learning every facet of game design, from game theory to level design to game interface design, and help further Anne’s ambition to create educational games.
“I am beyond thrilled to receive this great honor,” says Anne. “As an elementary school teacher, I realized the significant impact games can have on student achievement, and since leaving the classroom, I have aspired to create effective educational games. I am confident that this award, along with the excellent education I will obtain through the VFS Game Design program, will bring me one step closer to achieving my goal of effecting systemic change in the field of education through games.”
“Anne was the clear winner, despite intense competition with an increased number of applications compared to last year,” says Benjamin Colling, Director of Admissions at VFS. “Anne applied to VFS’s Game Design program with the intent of expanding her storytelling ability and game design skills so that she can learn how to make groundbreaking educational games that rival titles across all genres, including popular blockbusters. We are pleased to support her, and are confident that with her talent and drive she will be successful in accomplishing this goal.”
Female VFS Game Design graduates have gone on to work successfully in the industry, from Tara Mustapha and Charmie Kim of Microsoft Game Studios to Pamela Livara of Vancouver’s Slant Six, and Melanie Genereux of Longtail Studios in PEI.
In addition to the Women in Games Scholarship, VFS also awarded three other scholarships, thanks to the contributions of a number of Game Design Expo 2010 sponsors.
Congratulations to the following scholarship winners:
Aubrey Tennant from Ontario, Canada – $7,000 G4TechTV scholarship
Jie (Jacky) He from British Columbia, Canada – $5,000 Annex Pro scholarship
Brooke Fargo from British Columbia, Canada – $2,500 Radical Entertainment scholarship
- 30 -
About Game Design at Vancouver Film School
Vancouver Film School, founded in 1987, offers a proven education for everything in the entertainment industry. With 13 production-oriented programs and a world-leading one-year education model, VFS prepares students to join the creative economy. Students in the Game Design program learn to be part of any video game development team by learning all aspects of game design, from visual storytelling to level design principles to the production process, ultimately creating playable games themselves. Graduates have worked on such recent games as Mass Effect 2, ModNation Racers, Punch-Out!!, and Dawn of War II.
For more information, please contact:
Thuy Khuc, Public Relations Coordinator
Vancouver Film School
+1 (604) 631.3563 or toll free in North America 1 800 661 4101
tkhuc@vfs.com