Every July, Develop hosts the biggest awards night on the game development industry calendar with over 500 people attending representing companies from around the world.

Now in their eighth year, the Develop Industry Excellence Awards once again take place in Brighton at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, on the evening of July 14th.

While there are a number of awards in this industry, the Develop Awards are the only peer-voted prizes for UK and European games developers which focus purely on creativity, teamwork, and inspiring innovation. Not marketing. Not hype.

Studios from the UK and Europe can put themselves forward for hotly contested prizes including Best New IP, Visual Arts, Technical Innovation, Best In-House Studio and many others. Other returning prizes include Best New Engine, Creative Outsourcing and Services.

New for this year is Best Micro Studio, an award designed to recognise the increasing number of small scale studios with 10 or fewer staff working on original download IPs.

We've also reduced the prices for tables and tickets to make the event as accessible as possible.

Early bird prices, for those tickes or tables booked on or before June 7th, are:Gold Table of 10 – £1,975 + VAT; Standard Table of 10 – £1,750 + VAT; and Single Seats – £175 + VAT.

To book your place at the event contact Kathryn.Humphrey@intentmedia.co.uk, or download the booking form  - which can be downloaded here.

There are a number of excellent promotional possibilities at the event that include category and award sponsorship. Contact Katie.Rawlings@intentmedia.co.uk for more information on how you can get involved.

Meanwhile, we've posted up the full guide to the event, all of the awards up for grabs and how you can lobby for consideration - click here to read it.

But in short: anyone in the games industry can put forward their studio, services or technology firm for the awards - or suggest companies they think should win. Simply send a 300 word lobbying pitch to developawards@intentmedia.co.uk.

DEVELOP AWARDS 2010: FINALISTS

CREATIVITY

Best New IP
Blur (Bizarre Creations)
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
Alan Wake (Remedy)
EyePet (SCE London Studio)
Backbreaker (NaturalMotion Games)
APB (Realtime Worlds)
Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)

Best New Download IP
Angry Birds (Rovio)
VVVVVV (Distractionware)
Chime (Zoe Mode)
Machinariam (Amanita Design)
Orbital (BitForge)
Blue Toad Murder Files (Relentless Software)
Joe Danger (Hello Games)

Best Use of a Licence or IP
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
Metro 2033 (4A Games)
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Climax)
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games (Sumo Digital / Revolution Software)
LittleBigPlanet PSP (SCE Cambridge)
Aliens vs Predator (Rebellion)

Visual Arts
Machinarium (Amanita Design)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
Alan Wake (Remedy)
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
EyePet (SCE London Studio)
Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)

Audio Accomplishment
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (EA DICE)
Blur (Bizarre Creations)
DJ Hero (FreeStyleGames)
Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising (Codemasters)
Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Climax)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)

Publishing Hero
Sega
Sony XDev
Bigpoint
Microsoft
Channel 4
BBC


TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES

Technical Innovation
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
Sony Augmented Reality (EyePet/Invizimals)
Unity Engine (Unity Technologies)
Uniter (Bigpoint)
Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)
Hustle Kings (Voo Foo Studios)

Tools Provider
Autodesk
Scaleform
Havok
Hansoft
SCE (R&D/SN Systems/PlayStation Home)
Audiokinetic
Dolby

Engine
Unity Engine (Unity Technologies)
Unreal Engine (Epic Games)
Gamebryo Lightspeed
CryEngine (Crytek)
Vision Game Engine (Trinigy)

Services
Babel Media
Audiomotion
Catalyst Outsourcing
Testology
Universally Speaking
Testronic Labs

Audio Outsourcer
Outsource Media UK
Side
Richard Jacques Studios
Nimrod Productions
Media Mill
The Audio Guys
High Score Productions

Visual Outsourcer
Spov
Axis Animation
Image Metrics
Realtime UK
Imagination Studios

Recruitment Company
SpecialMove
Natural Selection
Amiqus
OPM
Aardvark Swift
Handle Recruitment

STUDIOS

Best New Studio
Lightning Fish Games
VooFoo Studios
Hello Games
Six to Start
Wonderland Software
Slightly Mad Studios
NaturalMotion Games

Micro Studio
Startfruit Games
Mobigame
Amanita Design
Binary Tweed
Hello Games
Tag Games
Distractionware

Handheld Studio
Rovio
Rockstar Leeds
Novarama Technology
SCE Cambridge
Ideaworks Game Studios
Digital Goldfish

Business Development
Avalanche Studios
Sony XDev
Eutechnyx
Blitz 1UP
X2 Games – Exient
NDreams

In-House Studio
Rocksteady Studios
Bizarre Creations
Black Rock Studio
SCE London Studio
Sports Interactive
The Creative Assembly
Codemasters

Independent Studio
Realtime Worlds
Quantic Dream
Sumo Digital
Remedy
Jagex Games Studio
Red Lynx

SPECIAL  RECOGNITION
Development Legend, sponsored by Babel Media

Grand  Prix

There are no finalists for these prizes - they are special awards given by Develop to a key individual and top company that has innovated, supported the games industry, and helped drive its growth within the last year and their lifetimes. The winners are chosen after soundings from the games industry.