Staffordshire tops TIGA Games Education Awards shortlist

Hosted by TIGA, the trade association representing the UK’s video games industry, the awards celebrate outstanding students, excellent education providers and best practice.

The University’s Staffordshire Games Institute is shortlisted for 16 awards across 12 categories, with winners to be revealed at a ceremony on 29 September.

Earlier this month, 15 recent University of Staffordshire graduates received the ‘TIGA Graduate of the Year 2025’ accolade in recognition of their work. Ten of these graduates have now been shortlisted for ‘Outstanding TIGA Graduate of Year’ awards across six categories at the TIGA Games Education Awards.

Up for ‘Best Student Game’ is Pushy Plushy a party video game developed by a team of University of Staffordshire students called Thinking Brick Studios for their final year Collaborative Game Development module.

Shortlisted in the ‘Excellence in University – Industry Collaboration’ category is StaffsVerse – a pioneering digital twin of the University of Staffordshire campus. Developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), staff and students alongside worked alongside professionals from games, architecture, branding, and construction, to visualise the university’s campus including the £40 million student village before construction began.

The Game Changers podcast, led by University of Staffordshire’s Dr Sharon Coleclough, is recognised in the ‘Diversity’ category. Aimed at raising the volume of those who are currently under-represented in the game sector, the monthly podcast looks at women and allies’ experiences within the game industry.

Staffordshire Games Institute’s research centre Game LEVELS is shortlisted for ‘Excellence in Games Research’. With over 30 members, the centre spans disciplines and is recognised in this category for advancing game audio research.

University of Staffordshire is also shortlisted in the ‘Innovative Teaching: Team’ category and Professor Chris Headleand is in the running for ‘Innovative Teaching: Lecturer, Head of Department or Dean’.

It follows a successful run for Staffordshire Games Institute which has also been shortlisted for seven prizes at the TIGA Games Industry Awards 2025 in November.

Since joining as Head of Department in 2022, Professor Headleand has overseen significant developments in student retention, attainment, and graduate outcomes.

He commented: “This incredible recognition across so many categories reflects not just the talent of our students, but the innovation and dedication of our entire games community here at University of Staffordshire. From groundbreaking research to student-led projects, we are passionate about leading the way in games education. I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved together.”

Dr Richard Wilson OBE, TIGA CEO, said: “The TIGA Education Awards shortlist highlights excellence in games education: superb students, proficient providers and best practice in education. We look forward to revealing the ‘hall of fame’ when we announce the winners of the Awards on 29 September.”

Discover more about Staffordshire Games Institute at www.staffs.ac.uk/go/games.