Knight News Game Award Winner Announced at Games for Change Expo

Play the News, a minigame compilation that encourages active engagement in news consumption, has won the first Knight News Game Award. The award was presented at the Games for Change Expo in New York City. The Knight News Game Award competition honored entries in the newly formed "journalistic" genre of serious games. Entries in this year's contest were tasked with strengthening players' awareness of world events by encouraging them to uncover truths, expose new information, and provide commentary on current issues. Three other titles were named as finalists in the competition. The Budget Maze is a dungeon crawler that challenges players to answer questions about local budget processes. The Web-based Hurricane Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City teaches disaster readiness and highlights the deeds of local heroes during the 2005 disaster. September 12th - A Toy World critically examines the United States-led War on Terror following the events of September 11th, 2001. "It's exciting to see news games emerge in their own right as powerful platforms where traditional storytelling and interactivity collide," said the Knight Foundation’s Journalism Program associate Jessica Goldfin. "We know that games are good at communicating information, engaging with new ideas and issues, spurring meaningful action and teaching digital literacy."