Sony Offers $10,000 Prize to Help Women Join the Games Industry

In a bit of perfect timing, Sony has followed up the sausage fest that was the PS4 reveal with an announcement that it is now accepting applications and submissions for the 2013 Gamers in Real Life (or, G.I.R.L.) Game Design Competition. Given that the purpose of the competition is to help women who are interested in working in the video game industry, this is either a crazy coincidence or some clever PR.

It's not a new thing, however. Sony has been running this competition for six years. As Laura Naviaux, Senior Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing at Sony Online Entertainment, says:

“At SOE, we believe that diversity is one of our keys to success and it is truly woven into the fabric of who we are as a company. We want to help make the games industry even that much more approachable and our goal with the G.I.R.L. Scholarship is to provide an easy way to usher even more women into the industry.”

It is good news that diversity is so important to Sony, and I hope the company takes further steps to demonstrate that in future. For now, if you're currently an undergraduate in a video-game-related course, have a GPA of at least 3.00, live in the United States, and are at least eighteen years old, then you can apply (by March 29^th) for the chance to win a $10,000 scholarship to put towards tuition, and the opportunity for a paid internship at Sony Online Entertainment.