Games for Change opened its 2025-2026 Student Challenge on Monday, a global game design competition for young people ages 10 to 25. The annual program awards $20,000 in grand prizes for games that address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Eleven years and tens of thousands of students later
Now in its eleventh year, the challenge has reached more than 70,000 students and nearly 2,000 educators across 600 cities in 91 countries. Participants have created over 6,600 original games that connect learning to real-world action.
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Submissions run from November 2025 through April 2026. Game Jams will take place worldwide throughout the season. Two grand-prize winners will receive scholarships from Take-Two Interactive and Endless. Winners and finalists will be recognized at the Student Challenge Awards on May 28, 2026.
Participants can choose from three themes developed with partner organizations:
- Outgrow Hunger (supported by World Food Program USA) – design a game where players care for a natural space that feeds a community.
- Own the Road (supported by GM) – design a game that promotes safe behavior in and around vehicles.
- All in for Nature: Reefs & Rainforests (supported by Playing for the Planet) – design a game about a reef or rainforest under threat and how people unite to protect it.
“With 3.4 billion players worldwide, the video games industry has an unprecedented ability to reach and inspire audiences across cultures and our next generation of leaders,” said Lisa Pak, head of operations at Playing for the Planet. She said the collaboration aims to turn play into a tool for awareness and action. Jessamyn Sarmiento, chief marketing officer at World Food Program USA, noted that more than 319 million people face severe hunger globally. The “Outgrow Hunger” theme, she said, lets students explore root causes of food insecurity through game design.
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The organization is launching the G4C Learn website, described as the world’s largest online library of lesson plans, tutorials, and toolkits for game design, game-based learning, esports, and career pathways. In partnership with Global Game Jam, educators can receive funding and training to host Game Jams in their classrooms. “Games turn learning into challenges students actually want to take on,” said Luna Ramirez, a CTE teacher at Thomas A. Edison CTE High School in New York City. She said the best learning happens when students take risks and collaborate – something the challenge encourages.
Registration is open at learn.gamesforchange.org.
The program is supported by partners including General Motors, Verizon, Motorola Solutions Foundation, Unity, and others.
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Since 2004, the non-profit has worked with developers, nonprofits, and government agencies to use games and immersive media for social impact.
This competition remains one of its longest-running initiatives.
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