Ubisoft's Design to Win contest lets artists submit game designs

Submissions opened today for Design to Win, a contest that lets budding artists submit their game ideas for a chance to win an online course in video game design.

Submissions, which must include a game concept and supporting art, are open now on the contest's official website and will remain up through August 11. Judges will choose three finalists based on originality, game art, technique and social voting. Those three finalists will be judged by industry professionals at PAX Prime.

The contest comes from a collaboration between Ubisoft's The Next Level initiative and The Academy of Art University School of Game Design.

"We are very excited about this partnership between the Academy of Art and Ubisoft's program The Next Level," said Josh Milligan, Senior Director of Customer Management at Ubisoft. "Anyone has a chance to participate and win in The Next Level and it's a wonderful extension to be able to reward passionate gamers with classes and education through the Academy of Art. Just as The Next Level can be an introduction to competitive gaming, the Academy of Art is a path for gamers to become developers."

Ubisoft launched a series of The Next Level competitive gaming tournaments at PAX Prime last year to bridge the gap between professional eSports and non-competitive gaming. For more on initiative, be sure to read Polygon's interview with Josh Milligan.