Community Player Award Win

Community Player Award Win

We’re delighted to announce that our Head of Learning, Stacey Jubb, has won the Community Player Award at the Game Republic Awards 2024.

A fantastic event that took place at GaMaYo in the new WX venue in Wakefield on 21st November, The Game Republic Awards celebrate the work of studios, colleges, universities and individuals in the North with awards for best studios, inclusivity, innovative use of technology and many more.

The awards ceremony also saw deserved nominations for Marcia Deakin (Inspiring Course Leader Award) who is on the Board of Trustees for the BGI (the governing charity of The National Videogame Museum) and Gina Jackson OBE (Games Legend Award) who is a member of our Museum Advisory Board.

A Richly Deserved Award

An award which is richly deserved, it highlights Stacey’s hard work and dedication and is a brilliant recognition of our whole Learning Team. Connecting communities at all levels with videogame culture through the Museum’s educational programmes, learning activities and outreach projects, Stacey continually goes above and beyond in her role working tirelessly to ensure videogames are for everyone. Forever.

Keith Stuart, games journalist and former Games Editor for The Guardian and the main judge of the awards, said of our winner, “that by linking game studios with students from disadvantaged backgrounds and by bringing games into communities throughout the area, Stacey’s work has shown in very practical ways how vital and life-changing videogames can be”

Stacey’s Award Winning Work

As Head of Learning at the NVM, and BGI Charity, Stacey has gone above and beyond in her work connecting communities at all levels with videogame culture.

Her work not only oversees the Museum’s educational programmes and learning activities, but also the planning, delivery and execution of a variety of key projects. Now into her third year, her early work with the organisation included The Next Level project, a course developed to enable women of colour to get into creating videogames.

Stacey’s work also includes leading Games Careers Week, an annual festival organised by the NVM.

Designed to explore various pathways into the creative industries, the week brings together a range of organisations including national videogame studios and educational institutions into contact with young people nationwide from disadvantaged backgrounds at the very beginning of their career. Part of the week-long event includes a two day careers fair, organised by Stacey, that invites over 500 pupils from SEND and alternative FE providers to chat with experts about potential careers within the creative industries.

Working with National Lottery Heritage Fund, and a dedicated team of Community Champions (supported by Community Officer, Lauren O’Donoghue), Stacey worked behind the scenes to ensure delivery of the Museum’s Level Up pop up exhibitions that toured communities across South Yorkshire and Chesterfield.

Following this, she managed a team of artists and creatives to produce “Plug In and Play” a videogames themed festival that took place in Rotherham this autumn as part of Children’s Capital of Culture.

Transforming Lives

On a day to day basis, Stacey is part of the Museum’s double award winning learning team, (which includes Learning Officer, Leah Dungay), and dedicated creative facilitators, who build partnerships in the community, and demonstrate how videogames can transform lives.

Participatory workshops have taken place in local libraries and community spaces, covering subjects from coding to character design, and under Stacey’s management over 5000 young people per year have visited the Museum from schools across the country.

Well Deserved Recognition

Stacey is part of the Museum’s Executive Team (working with Co-CEO’s Cat Powell & John O’Shea) and in many ways her work connecting the Museum’s mission, learning team, communities and industry is the glue holding everything at the Charity together. 

Without this dedicated work, as a team player and community player, the sector would be much poorer, and this is why recognition is needed and deserved.

Thank you for all your hard work and dedication Stacey and we’re so proud of you for winning Game Republic’s Community Player Award.

About Game Republic

Game Republic is the largest games industry network in The North of England and has been running game business events for over 20 years. The Game Republic Awards began in 2023, when the network marked its 20th anniversary. The Game Republic Awards now happen every year. For more information visit GameRepublic.net.

MD of Game Republic, Jamie Sefton, when discussing the 2024 awards said, “The Game Republic Awards give us all a chance to acknowledge the great work going on in The North. It is great to see the range of nominations in all categories this year. We are very lucky to have so much talent here.”