EA and Film School Award Game Scholarship

Electronic Arts and the Vancouver Film School grant $25,000 to game design student Sasha Dunfee.

The Vancouver Film School (VFS) and Electronic Arts have bestowed $25,000 on 18-year-old Sasha Dunfee as part of the EA Game Design Scholarship. Scholarship contestants were asked to submit game concepts in January in order to be awarded the money, and the creativity and practical applicability helped Dunfee’s entry stand out from the competition.

Dunfee, who is currently enrolled in the one-year VFS Game Design program, has had a knack for designing everything and only recently settled onto games. “I only really got into videogame design about three years ago with the release of Half-Life 2,” he said. “I find level design to be a fantastic and rewarding way of creative expression. This is a great opportunity for me, and it is an honour to have been selected out of what I am sure was a very talented entry pool.”

Jeff Ryan, Senior Director of Human Resources at EA, said, “EA is constantly seeking talented game designers to join our team and help us develop the next generation of exciting and engaging EA games. By supporting quality education like the VFS Game Design program, EA can help to foster a bright new crop of gaming talent, while supporting the continued success of the video game industry in Vancouver.”

Benjamin Colling, Director of Admissions and Student Services at VFS, said, “Having EA sponsor one of our incoming Game Design students presents an opportunity that is difficult to achieve for many Canadians. To have this opportunity go to a young, local recent high school graduate excites VFS, and it allows EA to make a meaningful investment in the youth of today that can literally change the life of the recipient.”