GDD Indie Awards 2026 Open for Submission Now

The GDD Indie Award is taking place again this year at German Dev Days. The award categories come with a prize of 10,000 euros total. Submissions can now be made online. The submission form is available in German and English. All Developers from Germany are eligible to submit, except for those that have a contract with the organisers of the GDD, Assemble Entertainment.

Studios can submit computer, video, or mobile games in various categories. The submission must be made by the developer (company, studio, team, or individual) themselves, not by third parties or other companies. 

The award ceremony will take place on 22 July at 6:00 PM during the GDD GermanDevDays in Frankfurt.

These are the categories:

• Best Beaver Crap (Worst Game) – prize of 100 euros (donated to a good cause)
• Best Prototype – prize of 1,000 euros
• Best Visuals (Graphics, Animation, etc.) – prize of 1,500 euros
• Best Sound (Music, Sound, Voice Acting) – prize of 1,500 euros
• Best Story – prize of 1,500 euros
• Best Game Mechanics (Game Design) – prize of 1,500 euros
• Best Game – prize of 3,000 euros

Submission Requirements:

• The submission must be a complete game (including Early Access games).
• The game must have been released between January 1 2025 and December 31 2025 (commercially or for free).
• The developer (company, studio, team, or individual) must not have been active in the market for more than five years, annual revenue must not exceed one million euros, and the developer must be independent (i.e., not owned in part by a publisher, etc.). Games published by a publisher may still be submitted.
• For the Prototype category, the prototype must have been created or completed during the aforementioned period and may only be submitted in this category.
• In the “Worst Game” category, unpublished projects and student projects may also be submitted. However, it must be a complete game and must also have been created during the aforementioned period.