About Us

The Organization

The National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR®) Corp. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation devoted to promoting and recognizing game developers. Its annual awards have honored video game design and programming for more than two decades.

The NAVGTR® Awards feature 57 competitive categories recognizing achievement in animation, art direction, character design, controls, game design, game engineering, musical score, sound effects, writing, and more. Since its inception in 2001, the academy has recognized over 6,816 talented individuals.

The general voting body of reviewers, journalists, analysts, content creators, and writers includes contributors for Bitmob, CBS Interactive, Destructoid, EGM Now, Game Informer, Game Trailers, GamesIndustry.biz, Gamespot, Gamezone, IGN, Kotaku, Machinima, Mashable, Massively, MSNBC, Polygon, Retroware, The Koalition, Ten Ton Hammer, and Venture Beat.

Additional varied outlets include CNN, Futurenet, GamesRadar, Los Angeles Times, Moody’s, NBC, Nintendo World Report, PC Gamer, San Jose Mercury-News, Twinfinite, USA Today, Wired News, and hundreds more.

We Recognize Creators

The Academy has a strict policy that all awards are engraved with the names of actual individuals who did the work.

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Indie Spirit

In its effort to recognize emerging talent and new ideas, the Academy includes categories for Original Games in addition to the sequel or series categories. This strategy not only allows the voters of the Academy to recognize and honor a greater variety of experiences, but also gives original IP a fighting chance against the well-known franchises in a tremendously sequel-driven industry.

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We Promote the Art of Games

Developers deserve recognition. Excellence should be rewarded. We believe that by encouraging more recognition of many of the industry’s talented individuals, the enhanced visibility of these leaders will lead to a greater public appreciation of game developers as artists.

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Celebrating the Industry

Dedicated members of the industry and members of the press are stepping forward to recognize the video game achievements that you don’t hear about on the evening news’ entertainment report.

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1,200 Media Voters

Our mission as a media group is to share and celebrate the limitless artistry that can come from this interactive medium. Video games are an art form, and our unique award categories reflect just how far that art has come.

Back in ’82 when I was executive editor on Electronic Games magazine, we were constantly asking the industry [why] it refused to publicize its creative talent. Imagine any other entertainment industry — books, movies, TV, music, etc. — where successful past product by an artist or artists was not used to market current and future product. How many times have we seen [ads saying] ‘From the people who brought you [name of hit game]’ or ‘By the creators of [name of game]?’ Not many. As long as the developers remain anonymous, they will never have any value beyond ‘What have you done for us lately?’

Bill Kunkel