The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have announced nominations for the WGA's Videogame Writing Award. The award, which recognizes writers as a primary creative force in today's gaming industry, will be presented at the 2009 Writers Guild Awards to be held on Saturday, February 7, 2009, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.
The nominees are:
COMMAND & CONQUER: RED ALERT 3, Writer Haris Orkin, Story Producer Mical Pedriana, Electronic Arts
DANGEROUS HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS IN TROUBLE!, Writing Keith Nemitz, Additional Writing Adrianne Ambrose, Mousechief
FALLOUT 3, Lead Writer Emil Pagliarulo, Quest Writing Erik J. Caponi, Brian Chapin, Jon Paul Duvall, Kurt Kuhlmann, Alan Nanes, Bruce Nesmith and Fred Zeleny, Additional Quest Writing Nate Ellis, William Killeen, Mark Nelson and Justin McSweeney, Bethesda Softworks
STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED, Writers Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey, LucasArts
TOMB RAIDER: UNDERWORLD, Story Eric Lindstrom and Toby Gard, Screenplay Eric Lindstrom, Eidos Interactive
Established by the Guilds' Videogame Writers Caucus to encourage storytelling excellence in videogames, to improve the status of writers, and to begin to encourage uniform standards within the gaming industry, the Videogame Writing Award recognizes the essential creative contributions made by videogame writers. As writers are rapidly becoming more central players in this medium, the Guilds are working to bring more videogame projects under their jurisdiction to ensure writers receive the benefits of a WGA contract.
The WGA Videogame Writing Award honors the best qualifying script from a videogame published in the previous year. To be eligible for entry, games must have been released between December 1, 2007 and November 30, 2008. Work that was not produced under WGA jurisdiction may have been submitted, but must contain separate writing credit(s). Writers of source material were not eligible for awards consideration. At the time scripts were submitted, the credited game writer(s) must have been or must have applied to become members of the WGA's Videogame Writers Caucus.
Winners of the 2009 Writers Guild Awards in all categories will be announced at awards ceremonies held on Saturday, February 7, 2009, simultaneously at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City.
For more information about the 2009 Writers Guild Awards submission process, guidelines, and official entry forms, visit www.wga.org or www.wgaeast.org.
