Saxxy Awards


The Saxxy Awards is an annual worldwide competition for 3D-animated films, hosted by video game developer, Valve. The first competition was held in 2011 and included 20 competition categories. In 2012, the number of categories was limited to five, and the contestants are required to use Valve's Source Filmmaker software to create their animations.
Each year, winners receive an in-game melee weapon for Team Fortress 2 named a ; it is a golden statue of the game's backstory character, , who was the namesake for the awards. The item resembles an Academy Award. The winner of the 2012 'Best Overall' category was flown to Valve in Bellevue, Washington for a filmmaking session with the company's very own filmmakers; this became a tradition for each of the following years' Saxxy Awards. So far, there have been 26 Saxxy Awards given out to winners over the past six years.
The 2013 awards were announced on October 2, 2013, with entries being accepted from November 11 through November 18. The 2014 annual awards were announced on July 24, 2014 with entries being accepted from September 17 through September 24.

Competition

Originally, the Saxxy Awards encouraged fans of Team Fortress 2 to create machinima based around the video game; the competition has since expanded to include other video games. Valve released the Source Filmmaker software before the second competition, which allowed users to animate their own videos using Valve's video game assets, including models, dialogue, sound effects, and particle systems. Winners are decided by public polling and a Valve jury, allowing voters to thumbs-up or thumbs-down entrants through the Steam online platform during voting periods.

2012 Awards

The 2012 Saxxy Awards were announced by Valve in August 2012. Voting opened on November 16, 2012, and ran until November 27. The short voting period was because Valve planned to show the video that won in the Best Overall category at the Spike Video Game Awards on December 7. The 20 competition categories from the 2011 awards were reduced to five for 2012: Best Action, Best Replay, Best Comedy, Best Drama, and Best Overall. The 2011 competition required that all video content be based exclusively on Team Fortress 2; however, the 2012 competition allowed content to be based on any of Valve's properties. The 2012 finalists received an item which was simply a video camera that is used as a melee weapon, while the winners each received the aforementioned Saxxy.
The winners were announced on November 30, but the winner of the Best Overall category was not revealed until the Spike Video Game Awards ceremony. Winners received a golden statue of the game's character Saxton Hale, and the Best Overall winner was given a trip to Valve Headquarters to meet the team that created the Source Filmmaker tool.
2012 winners:
Meet the Dumpster Diver, created by MrPopulous89, was named PC Gamer UKs "LoL of the Month" in their January 2013 issue. The five-minute action film builds on Valve's Halloween plot for the game and features a BLU Soldier fighting the entire enemy team while wearing bits of garbage. PC Gamer said the video was "beautifully shot" and particularly enjoyed the ending to the standoff between a Syringe Gun and a Shotgun, two weapons from the game. The weapon and cosmetics for the soldier created in the short were later added to the game.

2013 Awards

The 2013 Saxxy Awards were announced on October 2, 2013, with entries being accepted from November 11 through November 18. The nominations were announced at November 25 and the winners at November 26 4:00 PM PST.
2013 Winners:
Honourable Mentions:
The 2014 Saxxy Awards were announced on July 24, 2014 with entries being accepted from September 16 through September 23. The nominations were announced on September 30 and the winners were published on October 1 at 4:00 PM PST. It was confirmed by a member of the previous years Best Overall team that their video was believed to be a developed by a single person; which correlates with this year's winner.
2014 Winners:
Honourable Mentions:
The 2015 Saxxy Awards were announced on August 21, 2015 with entries being accepted from Wednesday, November 4, 3:00 PM till Wednesday, November 11th, 3:00 PM PST. Nominations were announced on November 17, 2015 with winners being published on November 18, 2015. In contrast with previous years, the selected Best Overall team had nine members, making it the largest of all three winning teams.
2015 Winners:
Honourable Mentions:
The 2016 Saxxy Awards were announced on August 9, 2016 with entries being accepted from Friday, November 4, 3:00 PM till Friday, November 11th, 3:00 PM PST. Nominations were announced on November 17, 2016 with winners being published on November 18, 2016. Similar to last year, the Best Overall team consists of nine members.
2016 Winners:
Honourable Mentions:
The 2017 Saxxy Awards were announced on December 5, 2017 with entries being accepted from Thursday, March 1, 3:00 PM till Thursday, March 8, 3:00 PM PST, 2018. Nominations were announced on March 14, 2018 with winners being published on March 15, 2018. This year's Best Overall team count beat any of the previous years' record, consisting of 19 members total.
2017 Winners:
Honourable Mentions: