The GameCity Prize is an annual games prize celebrating games as a form of cultural expression. Established in 2011 as part of the annual GameCity

Gamecity

GameCity is an independent, annual videogame festival in Nottingham, England. The festival is aimed at the general public, and many events allow members of the public to participate freely. The festival receives little funding from the commercial video game industry, and is concerned instead with...

 festival, the prize seeks "to drive understanding and appreciation of videogames within a wider cultural context.".

Nominations are made by a secret Academy of experts, who are asked to select the six games they deem to be the most "interesting and exciting released in the previous twelve months". A jury of non-gamers is then convened to consider the shortlist, first by playing the games and then meeting to select the one game they consider to be "the most interesting, exciting and excellent".

The prize has been described as "gaming's answer to the Bookers", although it has been pointed out that the comparison is flawed since the GameCity Prize is not specifically designed to reward British games.

Winners and shortlisted nominees

Year	Winner	Shortlisted nominees	Jury	Ref(s)
2011	Minecraft Minecraft Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010... – Mojang	Ilomilo Ilomilo ilomilo is a puzzle game developed by SouthEnd Interactive and Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on Windows Phone 7 on November 8, 2010 for AT&T customers... – SouthEnd Interactive SouthEnd Interactive SouthEnd Interactive is a game development studio based in Malmö,Sweden. SouthEnd works on game productions from various genres that run from various clients, such as Ubisoft and Sierra Online... /Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions... Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is an adventure video game created by Superbrothers and Capybara Games, with music by Jim Guthrie. It was released for iOS devices and makes use of device orientation during gameplay. A trailer was released for the game in February 2011, and the iPad version was... – Superbrothers/Capybara Games Capybara Games Capybara Games is an award-winning independent game studio based out of Toronto, Canada. It focuses on the development of iPhone, Nintendo DS, and downloadable console games... Pokémon Black – Game Freak Game Freak is a Japanese video game developer that currently creates games exclusively for Nintendo. It has developed the Pokémon series of role-playing games and several other games.-History:... /Nintendo Nintendo is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel.... Portal 2 Portal 2 Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle-platform video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The sequel to the 2007 video game Portal, it was announced on March 5, 2010, following a week-long alternate reality game based on new patches to the original game... – Valve Valve Corporation Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States... /EA Child of Eden Child of Eden Child of Eden is a rhythm action game created by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, best known for Rez, developed by Q Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. The game announcement opened Ubisoft's pre-E3 2010 press conference and was one of the first titles shown with support for Xbox 360's Kinect peripheral... – Q? Entertainment/Ubisoft Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries.... Limbo Limbo (video game) Limbo is a puzzle-platform video game and the premiere title of independent Danish game developer Playdead. The game was released in July 2010 as a platform exclusive title on Xbox Live Arcade, and was later re-released as part of a retail game pack along with Trials HD and Splosion Man in April... – Playdead	Jude Kelly Jude Kelly Judith Pamela Kelly OBE is a theatre director and producer from Liverpool, England.Kelly founded Solent People's Theatre, a touring company in 1976, and was artistic director of the Battersea Arts Centre from 1980 to 1985. In 1986, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company...  (Chair) Charlie Higson Charlie Higson Charles Murray Higson , more commonly known as Charlie Higson - also Switch - is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer... Tom Watson Tom Watson (politician) Thomas Anthony Watson is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for West Bromwich East since 2001. Watson was a Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office from 2008 to 2009... Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney is an Indian-British musician, producer and composer. His critically acclaimed work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of jazz and electronica and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics and spirituality... James Crabtree Ed Hall Ed Hall (television presenter) Ed Hall is a British television presenter best known for being a co-presenter on BBC daytime television show To Buy or Not to Buy. He began his broadcast career as a reporter for The Sunday Show. He has also presented the Channel 4 paintball show XFire and acted as an interviewer for the first two... Frances Barber Frances Barber Frances Barber is an Olivier Award-nominated English actress with a long and distinguished stage career. She has also appeared in numerous television productions... You Me At Six You Me At Six You Me at Six is a British rock band from Weybridge, Surrey. Formed in 2004, the group rose to fame in 2008 with the success of their debut album, Take Off Your Colours, which included the singles "Save It for the Bedroom", "Finders Keepers" and "Kiss and Tell", with the latter two peaking at #33... Dave Rowntree Dave Rowntree David Alexander De Horne Rowntree is an English solicitor, musician, animator, and political activist. He is best known as the drummer of the alternative rock band Blur...	,