Calling on south Warwickshire schools to enter games design competition

The Leamington-based Backspace gaming festival is returning to the town this autumn - and this year, the team behind the event is running a schools game design competition to get youngsters involved and have a taste of what a career in the industry might be like.

Five winnes will join teams of professional developers at a 48-hour games jam at Warwickshire College in early October to see their ideas brought to life. Chosen teams will also win careers visits for their school from developers in the area.

The competition is being supported by careers organisation Samphire STEM. STEM partner Gaynor Sharp said: “The schools and learners we work with across Coventry and Warwickshire are always keen to know more about careers in games but this is a fantastic opportunity to experience game-making and we urge all schools to take part.”

Bishops Tachbrook Primary School is among schools taking part. Headteacher Andy Brettell said: “It’s vital that the upcoming changes to the computing curriculum in September are relevant to the things that our children are passionate about and I really hope every school will take advantage of this exciting opportunity to make real links with a thriving local industry.”

Organised by PR and marketing agencies Press Space and Vital and produced in collaboration with Warwick District Council and Warwickshire County Council, Backspace 2.0 will take place from October 25 and include a ‘pop-up’ exhibition about the history of games development in Leamington, a Spa-Cade’ games trail, RaspberryPi programming workshops, quiz night and more.

To find out more about the festival and schools competition, visit www.BackspaceUK.com