How VIGMA selects its jury and judges the games

The second Video Game Critics Festival, VIGMA, has just begun, and its closing ceremony will be held on 15 Mordad 1400 (6 August 2021). With the call for entries already published, people are asking how the VIGMA 2021 jury was chosen and, more generally, how the submitted games are judged.

According to Mohsen Vafanejad, head of judging at VIGMA, the main decisions on the jury are made by a council of seven. Each council member proposes a list of jurors; once a combined list of nominees is ready, the council discusses whether each person should take part in judging that edition. The jury is then formed from the votes.

How will the games be judged in VIGMA 2021? Vafanejad explains that, as in the first VIGMA, each juror plays a limited number of games rather than spreading their time, energy and focus across every title. Given the large number of entries, jurors cannot play and review every game within the one-month judging window.

Because jurors' assignments overlap, every game is reviewed by several jurors. For example, with 30 jurors on the jury, each game might be reviewed by 7 to 10 of them. Vafanejad stresses that these numbers are not exact and only describe how judging works. He adds that the assignment of games to jurors is balanced, and that games are distributed so that no juror has a stake in the titles they judge or played any part in making or marketing them.

You can meet the VIGMA jury on the jury page. Every VIGMA 2021 juror is bound by the VIGMA manifesto and has committed to follow all of its clauses at every stage of judging. And remember: you have until 15 Khordad (5 June 2021) to submit your game to the second VIGMA.