D.I.C.E. Awards

The Academy encourages submissions from any individual or company providing that submission eligibility requirements are met. Each application enters the submitted game or title for consideration in at least one Craft category and only one Genre category. For most categories, the title must be publicly released in North America within the past calendar year. The exceptions to this rule are submissions for "Online Game of the Year" and "Fighting Game of the Year". The finalists in each category are selected by a peer panel, assembled by AIAS, of over 100 video game professionals across several facets of the industry, including developers, programmers, artists, and publishers, which is published on the AIAS website each year. The nominees are then voted on by the full membership of AIAS (over 33,000 members) via a confidential and secured voting system, and winners are subsequently announced during the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, typically in February of that year. Academy active Creative/Technical, Business, and Affiliate members are qualified to vote in all genre categories along with "Game of the Year", "Mobile Game of the Year", "Online Game of the Year", and "Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game". Creative/Technical members of the Academy may also vote on craft categories related to their expertise: • Game designers and producers vote for the categories of "Story", "Character", "Audio Design", "Game Direction", and "Game Design". • Artists, animators, and programmers vote for the categories of "Animation", "Art Direction", "Character", and "Technical". • Audio designers and musicians vote for the categories of "Audio Design", "Original Music Composition", and "Character". Due to this approach, the D.I.C.E. Awards are considered the main peer-based recognition within the video games industry compared to other major awards. ==Award ceremonies==