Jennifer Ann’s Group announces the “7th Annual Life.Love. Game Design Challenge” with a first place prize of $7,000

This looks like a great design challenge and a worthy cause:

Jennifer Ann’s Group announces the “7th Annual Life.Love. Game Design Challenge” with a first place prize of $7,000.

Can you create a video game about teen dating violence . . .
without using violence in the game itself?

Since 2008 Jennifer Ann’s Group, a nonprofit charity headquartered in Atlanta, has run a game design challenge to promote awareness of teen dating violence and provide educational information to protect teens. The contest is the largest and longest-running of its kind in the world and was recently named a 2014 Top 10 Trailblazer as selected by the National Youth Advisory Board. The contest is open to all over the age of 13 and receives entries from both the domestic and international video game community. The winning games for 2013 came from Argentina, Belgium, Ireland, and Thailand.

Previous winning games have been received with a great deal of praise:

“I was surprised how much I learned about my own relationships as well as having some really useful conversations with my family about establishing healthy boundaries.”
– Geek Dad, Wired.com

“Unlike some games with a message, Finding Jane really allows you to interact with your environment and keeps the preachy facts at a minimum. It’s a great example of learning by doing.”
– Jen Schiller, Kotaku

“I approached Grace’s Diary quite sure I had never encountered dating violence. But playing caused me to stop and remember back to when I was a teenager, and I realised that wasn’t completely true.”
– Microcosm Gamer

“This is the first game to get a perfect 5 on this site, and I’m not just being swayed by the fact that it’s made to support a good cause.”
– GirlGameReview

Drew Crecente, Executive Director of Jennifer Ann’s Group, has this to say:

“Video games are often unfairly blamed for violence in our society. Using them as a tool for social change to prevent violence is fitting as well as being very effective. We have found that teens prefer to explore a sensitive issue like teen dating violence through self-paced exploration. Additionally, parents like to use these games as an easy way to begin a conversation with their teenagers about abusive behavior in dating relationships.”

Registration for the contest is open now and entries are due by June 1, 2014.

Rules, sign-up information, FAQs, and previous winners are available through Jennifer Ann’s Group online at:http://bit.ly/LifeLove2014 (http://stopTDV.com/2014-life-love-game-design-challenge.htm)

ABOUT Jennifer Ann’s Group – Jennifer Ann’s Group is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization preventing teen dating violence through awareness, education, and advocacy. The organization has been instrumental in the passing of legislation mandating teen dating violence awareness in schools and has distributed over 1/2 million free educational materials to schools, churches, and other organizations throughout the U.S. and U.K. at no cost to the recipients.

On February 15 2006, Jennifer Ann Crecente – a high school senior – was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Jennifer was an honor roll student in high school, a camp counselor, a hospital volunteer, and participated in community theatre with her dad. Jennifer Ann’s Group is run by her father.