2016 Proto Award Submissions: Calling All VR Content Creators

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - May 19, 2016) - The Virtual Reality Foundation announced the 2016 Proto Awards submissions will be open from July 10th through July 24th. All virtual reality developers and creators are welcome to participate in the submission process for consideration in categories honoring sound design, mobile experience, live action experience, innovation and more! The Proto Award, presented by graphics giant AMD's Radeon Technologies Group for the second consecutive year, will be held in the fall in Los Angeles.

"AMD believes the success of VR will be directly correlated to the quality of the experiences it can deliver," said Roy Taylor, Senior Vice President for Alliances, AMD. "The Proto Awards is an essential event in the VR calendar to recognize and reward our brightest and best storytellers and creatives. We look forward to celebrating the very best."

The Proto Awards gives virtual reality's next generation of technologists, filmmakers, artists and enthusiasts an opportunity to submit their creations from the last year. The Proto Awards will accept virtual reality experiences first exhibited or made public between September 23, 2015 and July 10, 2016. 

This year, the Proto Awards expands to include categories for Best Narrative Experience and Best Music Experience, honoring VR content in 16 categories, which include:

• Best Original Score
• Best Live Action Experience
• Best Narrative Experience*
• Best Sound Design
• Best Social Experience
• Best Gameplay
• Best Educational Experience
• Best Music Experience*
• Best Mobile Experience
• Most Innovative
• Best Interaction Design
• Best Graphical User Interface
• Best Student Experience
• Best Art Direction
• Best Independent Experience
• Most Transportive Experience
• Best Overall

Previous Proto Awards ceremonies have been hosted by Jonah Ray (The Meltdown with Jonah & Kumail, The Nerdist) and Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley).  Last year's winners include: Schell Games' "I Expect You To Die," WEVR's "theBLU" and Cirque du Soleil's "Inside the Box of Kurios," among others. VR pioneer and computer scientist Ivan Sutherland accepted The Founders' Award for his work inventing the Sword of Damocles -- the first VR display.

There is a $50 fee for each entry. To complete the submission process, developers will need to submit a complete VR experience along with 30 seconds of in-app footage. Mobile, PC and console titles must be available on Oculus Home, Google Play, iOS App Store, Playstation Network, or Steam. To accommodate for "installation" experiences, developers may showcase their submission at their offices for voters during pre-set windows.

For more information on the submission process, please visit www.protoawards.com.

About The Virtual Reality Foundation
Founded in 2014, The Virtual Reality Foundation is a non-profit that was created at the nexus of the emerging medium of virtual reality and Los Angeles' entertainment industry. The foundation produces the VRLA Summer and Winter Expos, where virtual reality's new generation of technologists, enthusiasts and thinkers converge to try the latest experiences, consumer gear and creators' tools, and will host the third annual Proto Awards.