By submitting your game to The Pavs: NZ Game Awards, you are agreeing that you fulfill the eligibility requirements.

► Contribution must be from either:

A person or studio that identifies as being based in or from New Zealand or Aotearoa has contributed significantly to your submission, or
A person or studio that identifies as being based in or from Oceania for the Guest Plate category has contributed significantly to your submission.

If entrants to the Awards are in doubt about the amount of externally created or contributed content in their game, please contact the Judging Manager for clarification.

► Your game has not been a previous finalist in The Pavs awards. Submitting a game to The Pavs awards that was not a finalist at a previous Pavs awards is permitted, as long as your submission has been substantially developed/changed since your last submission.

► Your game is expected to launch within the next 12 months or has already been released within the last year. Whilst there is no hard time restriction on released games eligibility, we ask that you consider the spirit of the yearly celebration event.

► You are legally permitted to enter this game; or have written permission from all persons or entities having any rights in the entered game. (If you are a student team, you should check with your teachers first).

► You are a business entity; or an individual who is 13 years or older or has a parent or guardian’s permission.

rules

To enter the Awards, an Entrant who is otherwise eligible under these Official Rules must submit all of the following materials at any time between 12:00 am NZT on March 15th, 2024 and 11:59 pm NZT on April 31, 2024 (the “Entry Deadline”):
1. A properly completed official submission form, located on the Awards application page of the NZ Games Festival website: https://nzgamesfest.com/the-pavs/submit-for-the-pavs-2024/
Materials submitted to the Pav Awards may be used in regards to the Awards on the NZ Games Festival website, on social media when referring to the Awards, unless specified by the Entrant, please contact pavs@nzgamesfest.com if you have any concerns.
The Student’s Slice: Only games that have been developed in the vast majority by full or part-time school students during the term (or local equivalent) prior to submitting are eligible for entry into The Student’s Slice category. If a student game has been developed with significant portions of the assets contributed by non-students, it is not eligible for entry as a student game. If entrants to the Awards are in doubt about the amount of externally created or contributed content in their game, please contact the Judging Manager for clarification.
Updates are permitted during the Judging Period. However, the Judging Manager does not guarantee the viewing of every update by the judges/Jury.
Unreleased entries should be indicative of the content and experience that will be present in the future released version.
Released entries should not be censored or modified from the publicly accessible version of the game in order to meet eligibility criteria.
No games with malware of any kind are allowed.
By entering the Awards, each Entrant releases and holds harmless NZ Games Festival, its affiliates, and respective officers, directors, volunteers, and committee from any and all responsibility or liability arising out of or relating to: (i) any personal injury, death, property (including computer) damage, or other loss or claim of any kind arising from or in connection with any violation of these Official Rules; the Awards, the Conference or any Entered Game; (ii) any entry or other materials that have been tampered with, that are misdirected, incomplete, incorrect, non-conforming, corrupt, lost, late, or ineligible, or, with respect to mail-in entries or materials, that are sent postage due; and (iii) computer, telephone, cable, satellite, network, hardware, software, or other technical malfunctions or failures; garbled or jumbled transmissions; Internet or website inaccessibility or delays; printing or typographical errors in any Awards materials; or any other technical or human errors occurring in connection with the Awards.
All TTRPG games or “pen and paper” games must include all necessary materials for a judge/juror to experience the core of the game. This includes a sample module, world, characters, and narrative in which the judges/juror need for judging purposes.
It is at the discretion of the Judging Manager to disqualify any entries containing explicit materials that are not indicated or detailed in the game’s submission. Content that violates the NZ Games Festival inclusive policy or depicts ableist, racist, sexist, homophobic, ageist, classist, or similar is at the Judging Manager’s discretion for disqualification.
If a game entry requires on-site judging, the developers of the game cannot be present on-site. If needed, a neutral third party can be on-site to help the judges operate the game, but cannot be involved in any discussion with the judges outside of that operation. The Judging Manager or a representative of the Judging Manager needs to be present during the on-site session to observe. If the Judging Manager or their representative observes any attempts to sway the judges/jury, the game will be subject to disqualification.
Members of the NZ Games Festival committee(minus the Judging Manager), board of directors, and volunteers are permitted to submit games they have worked on as long as they are eligible under all other terms and official rules, and are not: involved in the Judging Process in any way, or have any oversight over the Selection process.
Entrants, Entrant’s team, and game entries to the Pav Awards must be in-line with the NZ Games Festival Safe Space policy). Entrants that violate these terms may be subject to disqualification (including revocation of rights to appear on NZGF website, revocation of license to use award name & laurels) and/or exclusion from NZ Games Festival events as decided by the board of directors.
Guest Plate: Only games that are from outside the NZ/Aotearoa community space and within\ Oceania are eligible.
By agreeing to be a Judge or Juror for the Awards, each Judge/Juror releases and holds harmless NZ Games Festival, its affiliates, and respective officers, directors, volunteers, and committee from any and all responsibility or liability arising out of or relating to: (i) any personal injury, death, property (including computer) damage, or other loss or claim of any kind arising from or in connection with any violation of these Official Rules; the Awards, the Conference or any Entered Game; (ii) computer, telephone, cable, satellite, network, hardware, software, or other technical malfunctions or failures; garbled or jumbled transmissions; Internet or website inaccessibility or delays; printing or typographical errors in any Awards materials; or any other technical or human errors occurring in connection with the Awards.
By agreeing to be a Judge or Juror for the Awards, each Judge/Juror agrees to allow their ‘To the Dev’ comments when judging to be sent on to the developer after the awards show and allow the NZGF the rights to quote ‘To the Dev’ comments on the NZGF website or at the awards night.
Community Pavs winners are not based on the number of nominations a person receives
Current NZGF committee members are not eligible to win the Industry Pillar and Unsung Hero awards
Current NZGF board members are not eligible to win the Industry Pillar and Unsung Hero awards
Previous NZGF board members are not eligible to win the Industry Pillar and Unsung Hero awards if they were part of the board the previous festival year
None of the owners/registered directors of Play by Play Limited or any of direct sponsors as an individual of NZ Games Festival will be eligible to win.
Community Pavs winners are chosen via rigorous review from our judging team, and decisions are not made lightly. As such, these decisions are final and no correspondence about the choice of winner/s will be entered into. That said, feedback on the awards process is always welcome via pavs@nzgamesfest.com.

user agreement

Each person or entity who enters a submission for the Pav Awards agrees to abide by the terms of these Rules and by the decisions of the Judging Manager and its judges and jurors, which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to the Pav Awards.
Each Winner will receive an award trophy and a license to use a version of the official Award name and winner logo in promotional materials relating to the Winning Game.
Each Finalist will receive a license to use a version of the official Award name and finalist logo in promotional materials relating to the Finalist Game.
Print-at-home materials are allowed provided that they are simple to use.
If physical materials are needed for the judging and jurying of the submission, those materials need to be provided to the Judging Manager before the end of submissions, April 31st, 2024.
- Please contact pavs@nzgamesfest.com if a mailing address is needed.
All postage costs will be covered by the submitter or not returned at the end of the judging period.
- If there are any games not returned or otherwise instructed to be donated, they will be turned over to the NZGF Board of Directors.
All physical games will be held until September 1, 2024.

By submitting your game to The Pavs: NZ Game Awards, you are agreeing to all Rules, Eligibility, and the User Agreement.
The Judging Manager can be contacted at pavs@nzgamesfest.com