omenGamers.com has teamed with The Guildhall at SMU (Southern Methodist University) to present the first-ever women’s-only, industry-funded scholarship to attend SMU’s one-of-a-kind digital games education program in Dallas, Texas.  An official press conference is planned for the Women’s Game Conference, September 9-10 in Austin, Texas.

Named the Game Development Scholarship for Women, the fund will help female students cover tuition expenses incurred during the 18-month Guildhall program, which costs $37,000.  Applicants who meet The Guildhall at SMU’s entrance requirements will be eligible to compete for the scholarship beginning in the fall.  The scholarship awards will be funded by game industry businesses that recognize the need for adding more women to the game developer workforce.

The scholarship has been developed as an effort to achieve more female representation in the game development industry.  A recent study by the Entertainment Software Association found that about 39% of gamers are women, and according to WomenGamers.com, this growing diversity among players calls for more women to be working in the game development industry.

“We feel strongly that more women should be working in the industry, but unfortunately it’s not a simple problem to solve,” says Phaedra Boinodiris of WomenGamers.com. “We established this scholarship to encourage women who wanted an opportunity to enter this challenging field of study.”

The Guildhall at SMU Executive Director, Peter Raad, PhD, states, “Game development studios and publishers must learn to capitalize more effectively on the increasing numbers of women playing games.  We believe the most important step toward achieving that goal is for game developers’ staffing choices to be reflective of the growing market of female gamers.”

Mary-Margaret.com, a top professional recruitment service for the interactive entertainment industry, is currently working with WomenGamers.com and The Guildhall at SMU to help identify publishers and game development studios who may be interested in donating to the scholarship fund.   Mary-Margaret.com is a sponsor of the Women’s Game Conference and an official supporter of The Guildhall at SMU’s Game Development Scholarship for Women.