Rules

Introduction#

Impy Awards are presented to recognise and reward the most creative Creations and Creators. Members of the Dreams™ coMmunity can submit themselves or their creations, where eligible, for any of the award categories described below.

Key dates#

Eligibility#

Subject to the rules below, creations for the Impy Awards 2023 may be self-nominated or nominated by Members of the Dreams™ coMmunity. Creations are eligible for nomination if the creator or creation meets all of the relevant criteria below:

Eligible Creators:

1. Be a resident of a Participating Country or Region (defined below);
2. Be over 12 years old – individuals under the age of majority in their Participating Country or Region must have the consent of a parent or legal guardian to take part in the Impy Awards 2023;
3. Have an account for PlayStation Network (“PSN”);
4. Own or have access to a PlayStation®4 or PlayStation®5 console system and a copy of the PlayStation game Dreams (the “Game”) as of 4th December 2021;
5. Complete the Submission Form via Survey Monkey(opens in new tab);
6. Comply with the Game’s Moderation Guidelines and the PSN Terms of Service, including the Code of Conduct(opens in new tab);
7. Creators have used the Game between 23rd November 2021 and 22nd November 2022.

All individuals who meet the above criteria are eligible “Entrants”.

A piece of content that is created by an Entrant is an “Eligible Creation” if:

• It has been published and released within the Game between 4th December 2021 and 4th December 2022;
• It contains content that is suitable for individuals that are 12 years and older and complies with the Game’s Moderation Guidelines;
• It is entirely the Entrant’s original work or, where more than one individual is involved in creating, it is the original work of all of the collaborators; and
• It does not infringe a third party’s intellectual property.

“Participating Countries” or “Regions” means: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, China Mainland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan Region, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Uruguay and United States of America.

The following individuals cannot take part in the Impy Awards 2023 including, without limitation, as Entrants or participants in any public voting process: (a) employees of the Promoter; (b) employees of agents or suppliers of the Promoter who are professionally connected with the competition or its administration; or (c) the members of the immediate families or households (i.e., those with whom they are domiciled) of (a) and (b).

No purchase is necessary to participate in the Impy Awards 2023.

Where Entrants do not already have an account for PSN, they may create one without cost or obligation using their PlayStation® console system or by visiting playstation.com/en-gb/support/account/create-account-for-psn/(opens in new tab). Registration for PSN is subject to acceptance of the PSN Terms of Service and User Agreement and Privacy Policy (see playstation.com/legal/psnterms(opens in new tab)).

Nomination#

Entrants must enter submissions via Survey Monkey(opens in new tab) between 5PM GMT on 22nd November 2022 and 23:59 GMT on 4th December 2022. Submissions for all award categories will close at 23:59 GMT on 4th December 2022.

Impy Award Categories#

The CoMmunity Award Categories are as follows:

1. CoMmunity Star: This Impy recognises a standout member of the Dreams coMmunity who has gone above and beyond for the wider coMmunity. This award can belong to a streamer, curator, podcaster, creator, fan-site editor - someone who exemplifies being a champion for Dreams!
2. Most Helpful Dreamer: This Impy recognises the contributions of an individual to spreading knowledge through the Dreamiverse. Whether through streams, collaborations, in-game tutorials, coMmunity conversations or other work, they’ve helped other dreamers reach their full potential.
3. CoMmunity Collaboration: This Impy recognises a coMmunity-run event that invited other dreamers to collaborate together to create something amazing.

4. Breakthrough Dreamer: This Impy recognises a dreamer who joined the Dreamiverse during 2022 and has made an impact on the coMmunity and Dreams with creations, contributions to the coMmunity or both!

5. Contribution Beyond Dreams: This Impy recognises a member of the coMmunity who shares and celebrates the Dreamiverse outside of Dreams. This may be, but isn’t limited to, blogs, video creation, streaming and podcasts.
6. Curation Star: This Impy recognises the coMmunity member with the best collections and contributions towards highlighting creations in the Dreamiverse.
7. Innovation in Create: This Impy recognises a creator or creation that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with the Dreams tools, whether that’s finding a unique application of the tools or developing an original idea that pushes the boundaries of creation.
8. Evolving Experience: This Impy recognises a creation in the Dreamiverse that has evolved significantly over the last year, even if it was started as early as the Dreams beta.

The Competitive Award Categories are as follows:

1. Creator(s)/Team of the Year: This Impy recognises the creator or team of creators that have shone brightest in the Dreamiverse over the last year, with creations that stole the attention of dreamers and left them wanting more.
2. Creation of the Year: This Impy recognises a standout creation published in the Dreamiverse this year. This top creation excels in many areas and creates an amazing experience to be recognised as one of the best in the Dreamiverse.
3. Excellence in Art Direction: This Impy recognises the creation that displays a professional and consistent level of quality and style throughout its visuals and artistic design.
4. Excellence in Environment Art: This Impy recognises the strongest environment art within Dreams, displaying amazing asset design, world-building and extraordinary use of lighting and style.
5. Excellence in Narrative: This Impy recognises a creation with a compelling narrative, showcasing story and plot development with the utmost skill.
6. Excellence in Sculpture: This Impy recognises a sculpture in the Dreamiverse that is a masterful example of the potential of Dreams’ sculpting tools.
7. Music Track of the Year: This Impy recognises an excellent single piece of music, composed and created in Dreams.
8. Musician of the Year: This Impy recognises a Dreams audio creator that has shown an excellent understanding of the audio tools in Dreams and has created music of a high quality. This could be, but not limited to, standalone music or scores for games.
9. Excellence in Animation: This Impy recognises the creation with the most well-made display of motion in Dreams, be it a puppet, short film, or well-crafted game animations.
10. Excellence in Gameplay: This Impy recognises a creation with well-refined, expertly-executed gameplay ideas and mechanics, providing a truly great experience for the player.
11. Most Original Gameplay: This Impy recognises a creation that displays truly original and unique gameplay mechanics.
12. Excellence in Character Design: This Impy recognises a character in Dreams that is well-crafted, with a high level of personality and originality.
13. Excellence in Audio Design: This Impy recognises a creation with creative and well-implemented audio design.
14. Excellence in Voice Acting: This Impy recognises a creator who has lent their voice to a creation to a high standard. This could include, but is not limited to, voicing a character or narrating a scene.
15. Excellence in VR: This Impy recognises a Dreams VR creation that excels in the execution of a virtual reality experience and is a brilliant example of what is possible with the Dreams creation and VR tools.

Note: An award category may not run in a given year if fewer than 10 submissions are received.

Shortlisting#

All submissions received by 23:59 GMT on 4th December 2022 will be grouped together into their entered categories and considered by the Promoter’s internal panel of experts.

The top Eligible Creations or Eligible Creators across each award category will be shortlisted (“Impy Awards Shortlist”). The Impy Awards Shortlist will include the top 5 entries for all award categories except for “Creator/Team of the Year”, “Creation of the Year'' and “CoMmunity Star'' categories which will each have 10 entries that make the shortlist.

Prior to finalising the Impy Awards Shortlist, all submitted creations and profiles that are to be shortlisted will be reviewed and, at the sole discretion of the Promoter, Entrants may be required to make some minor changes to their creations and/or profiles. Any Entrants who fail to make the required amends within three days of being contacted will not be included in Impy Awards Shortlist.

Nominations for each category will always be listed in alphabetical order.

All decisions made by the Promoter are final and no correspondence will be entered into as to why particular submissions were not included on the shortlist.

Judging & Voting#

The Impy Awards Shortlist will be announced by the Promoter at 5PM GMT on 14th February 2023 on indreams.me/impys-2023.

CoMmunity Award Categories

The Game’s CoMmunity can begin voting for their favourite Eligible Creator or Eligible Creation from 5PM GMT on 14th February 2023!

For these categories, we expect the CoMmunity will look for:

1. CoMmunity Star: A shining star of the coMmunity, not necessarily a creator, who has stood out from the rest over the past year for their willingness to help others, excellent creations, supportive nature, being a champion of Dreams or another positive trait.
2. Most Helpful Dreamer: A creator who has gone above and beyond to help others throughout the year. This could be via tutorials, streams, assets or even simply lending a helping hand.
3. CoMmunity Collaboration: An event created and curated by the Dreams coMmunity that has invited others to collaborate on. Providing an experience that could only be found in Dreams.

4. Breakthrough Dreamer: A Creator who has become a part of the coMmunity in the last year and has made their mark on their Dreamiverse in that time.

5. Contribution Beyond Dreams: This Impy recognises a member of the coMmunity who shares and celebrates the Dreamiverse outside of Dreams. This may be, but isn’t limited to, blogs, video creation, streaming and podcasts.
6. Curation Star: This Impy recognises the coMmunity member with the best collections and contributions towards highlighting creations in the Dreamiverse.
7. Innovation in Create: This Impy recognises a creator or creation that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with the Dreams tools, whether that’s finding a unique application of the tools or developing an original idea that pushes the boundaries of creation.
8. Evolving Experience: This Impy recognises a creation in the Dreamiverse that has evolved significantly over the last year, even if it was started as early as the Dreams beta.

Each individual within the Game’s coMmunity can only vote once for each award category. In the event that it is discovered by the Promoter that more than one vote has been submitted by an individual for any award category, the Promoter reserves the right to declare all votes submitted by such individual to be null and void.

Voting will close on 21st February 2023 at 23:59 GMT.

The Entrant with the most votes in each CoMmunity Award Category wins, subject at all times to confirmation by the Promoter, as applicable.

In the event of a tie in any CoMmunity Award Category, the tied Creations or Creators will be submitted to the panel of five judges who are judging the Competitive Award Categories and the decision of the panel of judges (acting reasonably) will be final. Odds of winning a CoMmunity Award Category will depend upon the number of eligible votes received; however, such odds will be no less than one in five (1:5).

Competitive Award Categories

A panel of five judges will review the entries selected in the Impy Awards Shortlist for each Competitive Award Category and select the best Eligible Creator or best Eligible Creation for that category based on the criteria outlined below. The decisions of the panel of judges, acting reasonably, will be final.

A list setting out the full names of the judges will be available to anyone who writes to the Promoter within 30 days of the Impy Awards 2023 Ceremony (26th March 2023) requesting details of the judges and who encloses a self-addressed envelope to the following address: Media Molecule, PO BOX 1127, Guildford, GU1 9LW.

Judging criteria:

1. Creator(s)/Team of the Year: A creator OR creators whose content is recognised as outstanding by both the Promoter and coMmunity. Consistent in their work, or those who have developed over the year and is now a known name/s in the Dreams coMmunity.
2. Creation of the Year: Must be a fully-realised creation with criteria that might make it outstanding in a combination of other categories as well.
3. Excellence in Art Direction: Truly eye-catching. Utilises the Dreams art tools suite to the best of its ability.
4. Excellence in Environment Art: A thorough and impressive display of environment art within a creation. Showcasing strong art direction, polished and professional asset design and quality use of lighting.
5. Excellence in Narrative: An engaging, well-rounded story. Has a beginning, middle and an end.
6. Excellence in Sculpture: Finely-detailed. Expert use of the tool.
7. Music Track of the Year: A single and original piece of music, made with the Dreams tools to an exceptional standard.
8. Musician of the Year: A Dreams creator who has created original music in Dreams, at a consistently high standard throughout the year. This can be the creator of standalone tracks, albums or a soundtrack to a creation.
9. Excellence in Animation: An animation which demonstrates the capabilities of the animation tools to the fullest extent. Shows originality and skill with the animation tools either in a game or animated short format.
10. Excellence in Gameplay: Refined gameplay mechanics, feels like a complete game. Implements unique and well-rounded ideas. Feels professional!
11. Most Original Gameplay: A gameplay mechanic or feature that is truly unique in the game it’s found in. Something that hasn’t, or has rarely been seen, in another game.
12. Excellence in Character Design: A well-designed character with a high level of polish and originality. This includes sculpture quality, built-in animation, audio design and game mechanics.
13. Excellence in Audio Design: Well-developed audio within a creation. Something that truly brings to a creation to life. Could be atmospheric audio, sound effects etc.
14. Excellence in Voice Acting: A Dreams creator who has lent their voice to a creation in Dreams and stands out among others.
15. Excellence in VR: This Impy recognises a Dreams VR creation that excels in the execution of a virtual reality experience and is a brilliant example of what is possible with the Dreams creation and VR tools.

Winners#

There will be one winning Creator or one winning Creation for each award category (“Winning Creator or Creations”). For an award category where the Winning Creation has more than one creator, the principal contributor will be deemed the Winner for that category.

Winners will be announced at the Impy Awards 2023 Ceremony to be held on 26th March 2023 at 5PM GMT on twitch.tv/media_molecule(opens in new tab). A complete list of Winners will be published on indreams.me.

The Promoter must either publish or make available information that indicates that a valid award took place and that the prizes have been awarded to the confirmed winners. To comply with this obligation the Promoter will publish the surname and county of winners and, if applicable, their winning entries on indreams.me on 27th March 2023. If a winner objects to their surname, county and/or winning entry being published or made available, please contact the Promoter at hello@mediamolecule.com. Please note that the Promoter may still be required to provide a full list of Winners to a regulator, or to other third parties, as required by applicable local law.

Prizes#

All 135 Creators and Creations that make the Impy Awards Shortlist will receive an in-game badge that will be added to their profile or shortlisted creation on 27th March 2023. Where a shortlisted creation has more than one creator, the principal contributor will receive the in-game badge.

All Winning Creators and Winning Creations will receive: (i) an Impy Award Winner’s in-game badge that will be added to their winning content or profile and (ii) a physical Impy Award. Where a winning creation has more than one creator, the principal contributor will receive the in-game badge and the principal contributor will also receive an Impy statue.

In-game badges have no monetary value and are non-transferrable. The Impy statue has no retail market value. No cash alternative will be provided. In order to receive the Impy statue, winners will need to provide a postal address. The Promoter will ask for this information when they notify confirmed winners between 27th March 2023 and 10th April 2023. If a confirmed winner does not provide an address by 17th April 2023 to hello@mediamolecule.com, such confirmed winner’s claim to receive the Impy statue will become invalid. Impy statues will be delivered to confirmed winners within 6-8 weeks of receipt of postal address.

Impy statues remain the property of the Promoter and are to remain in the care of the recipients or their descendants. Impy statues must not be sold or transferred to any third party.

General#

All personal information submitted in connection with the Impy Awards 2023 will be processed in accordance with applicable data and/or personal information protection laws, these Rules and the Promoter's privacy policy(opens in new tab).

If there is any reason to believe that there has been a breach or violation of these Rules, the Dreams’ User Guide or the PSN Terms of Service(opens in new tab), the Promoter reserves the right and may, at its sole discretion, terminate, modify, cancel or suspend this competition, disqualify or exclude any individual from participating in the Impy Awards 2023, remove any and all content within the Game which: infringes a third party’s intellectual property; may be offensive, illegal, or may damage or threaten the safety and/or integrity of any person, including - but not limited to - clearly offensive material that encourages racism, intolerance, hatred or physical damage of any kind against a group or a person, or is contrary to morality and good customs, good name and honour or the rights of third parties; or it is in violation of current legislation, remove any user profile within the Game and/or rescind any prize given and all connected privileges.

The Promoter does not assume responsibility for the Game’s content and associated comments and/or phrases or for the consequences that the publication of these could generate. Entrants assume full responsibility for the Game’s content and associated comments and/or phrases published by them. Any response and/or comment and/or phrase may be reported by any user of the Game.

In the event of a dispute, the Promoter’s decision is final and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, these Rules shall be construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and the parties (each Entrant and the Promoter) shall submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

The “Promoter” of the Impy Awards 2023 is set out in the table below for the Participating Countries or Regions.

Quebec, Canada residents only: Any litigation respecting the conduct or organization of a publicity contest may be submitted to the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux for a ruling. Any litigation respecting the awarding of a prize may be submitted to the Régie only for the purpose of helping the parties reach a settlement.