AMD, Learning Games Network Sponsor A-ha Moment Video Contest
May 7, 2009

AMD, Learning Games Network Sponsor A-ha Moment Video Contest

Sunnyvale, Calif. - AMD and Learning Games Network have announced the A-HA Moment video contest, a competition for students to demonstrate "how video game play can result in serious learning," reveals a representative.
Sunnyvale, Calif. - AMD and Learning Games Network have announced the A-HA Moment video contest, a competition for students to demonstrate "how video game play can result in serious learning," reveals a representative. The contest is open to U.S. students age 13 and older in middle school, high school, and post-secondary school; it consists of two main categories. The “A-ha Moment” category asks contestants to create a video explaining how playing video games reinforced something they first learned elsewhere. The “My Dream Assignment” category asks them to describe a game that could be “required playing” for a class at school. The contest is open now through May 31.

“Digital game play as an entertainment vehicle is undisputed, but we believe games can also serve as valuable educational tools,” says Andrew Blanco, director of Program and Business Development for the Learning Games Network. “This contest encourages students to exercise their creativity while sharing their perspectives on games’ potential.”

“We live in a visual age where gameplay -- and game development in particular -- can motivate students to learn in ways that can’t be matched by non-visual learning mechanisms,” says Allyson Peerman, vice president of Public Affairs for AMD and President of the AMD Foundation. “Inspiring youth through social game development is the mission behind AMD Changing the Game and this contest is another vehicle to help advance that mission.”

AMD Changing the Game, the education initiative of the AMD Foundation, is designed to take gaming beyond entertainment and inspire youth to learn critical education and life skills by equipping them to create digital games with social content, according to a representative. The program’s purpose is to promote the use of youth game development as a tool to inspire learning, improve science, technology, education, and math (STEM) skills.

First-place contest winners in each age group will be eligible to receive a 16-inch HP Pavilion dv6 series notebook, powered by an AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor ZM-84.

For an entry form and full contest details and rules, visit http://www.aha-moment.org.