There’s just two weeks left to register for Search For A Star & Sumo Digital Rising Star 2019!

We’re on the search for talented student programmers, animators and 3D artists and VFX artists who are looking to show off their game development skills. Top UK games studios including Sumo Digital, Epic Games, TT Games, nDreams, BossAlien, d3t & Red Kite Games have partnered up with Grads In Games & Aardvark Swift to bring the game development challenge to 2019 and help more students make the leap to becoming professional developers.

Awards and prizes for the top performers across Search For A Star & Sumo Digital Rising Star include exclusive interviews for jobs and internships with our partner studios, as well as a whole host of games, software, tech and goodies from all of our partners.

Designed to replicate the aspects of a standard industry recruitment process, Search for a Star tests students in their final year or on a Masters courses, while the Sumo Digital Rising Star challenge is for students who have not yet reached their final year.

It’s not just the finalists who gain places at studios either. As the briefs you’ll be working on are designed by panels of industry experts, studios recognise that applicants who have taken part in Search for a Star have experience creating the kind of games and assets that they want to see. Students from 2018 have since gone on to work at studios including Sumo Digital, nDreams, Frontier Developments, Playground Games, Rebellion, Cloud Imperium & many more!

Both rounds are open now but you’ve only got until the 13th December to register, so get signed up & get started! The first round of the challenges is a HackerRank C++ test for programmers, or portfolio review for artists. For the round two project challenge, students will create & publish their very own game or set of game-ready assets & animations. Students will receive personalised industry feedback on their work which they wouldn’t find anywhere else.

Every student who enters Search for a Star is able to take part in both stage one and two, and will receive industry feedback on their work. We want to help as many students as possible, and with the help of our studio partners, we’re in a great position to do that.

Programming students will have until 31st December to complete their code test, and artists will have until 16th December to submit their portfolio. The Stage 2 development project is open to everyone until the 27th January 2019. The top performers across the challenges will be invited to our Finals Day Showcase Event to demonstrate their skills and knowledge with a panel of industry professionals, with a chance to secure an interview with a leading UK studio!

You can check out more from our 2018 Search for a Star finalists here.

So, what are you waiting for? Register now –  Search for a Star and Sumo Digital Rising Star registration is now open!