The Grads in Games Awards 2020 – The Academic Award Winner is Revealed!
The Grads in Games Academic Award highlights lecturers, course leaders & academics who have demonstrated a positive impact with their students over the past 12 months. These are the academics that go beyond just the lectures, are often excellent student mentors, organise industry events and speakers, and can show wide-ranging beneficial results of their work.
This year we had over 100 nominations which really showcases the quality of teaching currently happening in our universities and colleges. These were whittled down to a shortlist of 10 finalists who were then judged by our fantastic panel. This years finalists:
- Alan Zucconi – Goldsmiths, University of London
- Carrie Warwick – University of Bolton
- Chris Rothwell – Breda
- Rob Griffiths – Llandrillo Colleg
- Matthieu Delaere – Howest DAE
- Michael Acosta – Warwickshire College
- Richard Hebblewhite – Wrexham Glyndwr University
- Satish Shewhorak – Teesside University
- Sharon Tolaini-Sage – Norwich University of the Arts
- Thomas Methven – Edinburgh Napier University
Following deliberation by our judging panel, we can now reveal that in their expert decision the winner of this years award is Richard Hebblewhite representing Wrexham Glyndwr University.
Richard has worked incredibly hard for Wrexham Glyndr University and it’s students for almost 20 years and was the one who created their BSc Computer Game Development course in 2006. In the last year he has also co-created Games Talent Wales, a Welsh grassroots talent program for game development alumni as well as becoming the UK regional organiser for Global Game Jam, being part of the team that broke the record for the biggest jam ever!
Below you can see some of Richard’s nominations:
“Richard Hebblewhite supports, motivates and provides for his students on the course. encouraging students to be creative, passionate and competitive, building a strong foundation and knowledge base ready for after graduating. He goes above and beyond to provide opportunities for the students through connections, events and guest speakers.”
“I’ve personally always felt motivated for my studies and projects after talking to Rich. He is down to earth and enthusiastic about game development, which is a breath of fresh air when under deadlines. With his support and guidance, my team Treasure Map Tales was able to participate in Tranzfuser 2019 which was a great opportunity I couldn’t have possibly done on my own.”
“He works closely with the games industry identifying the modern industry needs and preparing students for what they can expect. He supported me in the process of finding my dream job as a programmer by highlighting the skills I need to gain, in order to achieve my goals.”
We feel Richard is an excellent example of what academics can achieve by working alongside the industry, this award is fully deserved and we want to offer him all of our congratulations.
