The 2026 BAFTA Young Game Designers winners have been announced, and they provide a great example of the power of video games as an expression of young people's creativity.
Chosen from hundreds of entrants aged between 10 and 18, the four winners presented novel concepts and finished games that shoes the breadth of creative possibilities in the field (If you're inspired, see our guides to the best game art tools and the best laptops for game development).
The BAFTA Young Game Designers Competition bestows awards across two categories in two age groups (10-14 years and 15-18 years). The Game Concept Award rewards distinctive well-conceived ideas for original games, while the Game Making Award recognises the use of coding skills on a freely available software to create a working prototype.
The winners were selected by games industry experts, including from leading companies such as IO Interactive (007 First Light) and TT Games (LEGO Batman: Legacy of The Dark Knight).
This year's winner of the Game Making Award in the 15-18 age group is Dylan Williams (18) with his Kompis and the Wells of Fontis. You play the game as Kompis, who ends up down a well with Evil Thought, a dark inner voice that tries to influence his journey, while Fontis are calm water spirits who impart wisdom to keep you going.
There are five areas for Kompis to navigate, each providing lessons that will aid his journey, while Evil Thought tries to make him doubt his decisions as well as whether he can trust his flaky Neighbour Friend.
Kompis's quirky hand-drawn character design with his upside-down smile reminds me of Roger Hargreaves' Mr Men. But despite the minimalist 2D art style, the game's premise and escalating threats make for a surprisingly deep concept around the challenges of finding self belief and dismissing negative thoughts when growing up and finding light in the darkness.
You can download and play the game here.
The winner in the 10-14 years category is Thiago van Vlerken Rene with Yggdrasil. This is a 2D platformer metroidvania in which you play a Valkyrie tasked with ferrying the souls of fallen warriors to Valhalla. After delivering a champion the gods deem unworthy, you're banished and he is given a trial to prove his worth.
He secretly confesses that he was only displaying extraordinary fighting abilities using a magical amulet, now stolen by the beast Ratatoskr. To save yourself, you must fight Ratatoskr to retrieve the amulet and smuggle it back before the trial.
Thiago, a 14-year-old from Sheffield, has been a finalist four times previously, and he won in the Game Concept category in last year's awards. Thiago said the process of making a playable game this time had been “rewarding because it gives me a moment to stop and realise how much I’ve grown through making the game.”
You can download and play the game here.
In the Game Concept category, Grace Mccullagh Stacey (10) from London won in the 10-14 age group for her game concept Nobody Nose, a “quirky 2D comedy adventure game that is full of surprises”. The winner in the 15-18 age group is Erin Goddard (17) from Sheffield. Her game TailBreak is a co-operative puzzle platformer game about a group of animals teaming up to break their friends out of pest control.
You can watch the full ceremony in the video below.
BAFTA Young Game Designers is now in its 16th year. It was created to provide young people with experience and pathways into careers in the games industry, providing game-making workshops, primary school roadshows and secondary school events during National Careers Week. You can find out more on the website.
