My reminder to share this advice on submitting a game to the IGF award has just gone off! IGF submissions are live https://igf.com/submit-your-game

IGF Advice
Hello all. As the submission phase of the Indie Games Festival is now open, I wanted to share some advice on the judging process that I thought would be useful to anyone submitting a game. Some of this may be applicable to other similar games festivals/awards, but much of it will be specific to the IGFs. I've been a judge every year since 2012, and I have seen certain simple mistakes with submissions harm the chances of games, and that these mistakes are often repeated suggests to me that this advice might be useful for others going forward. Happy to answer questions about judging if you have any, but obviously this won't extend to talking about which games I have played/nominated etc.

Caveats:
I am a first round judge, meaning my role is to help narrow down the list of all submissions (520 games last year), and then a final jury decides the actual winners.
There are hundreds of judges, and it's entirely possible that other judges might disagree with me on some points, and some winning games may have had submissions that are completely differently to what I am suggesting.
Ultimately the games that are going to win will be the games that the judges/jury think deserve it most, this advice won't turn a game that couldn't possibly win into one that will, but it will reduce the chance of an award contender slipping under the radar.

1. Key/Platform availability.
How the judging process works is that each judge is assigned a fixed number of games that they are specifically asked to play, and then give a recommendation if they believe each game is a contender for each award category. However, judges are also free to try games beyond the specific titles that they are assigned. This means that it's advisable to provide a large number of keys, because otherwise you are running the risk of there being no keys remaining, and judges who find your title interesting may be unable to play, and therefore unable to nominate it.
Likewise, many submissions just make a game available on one platform (often PC/Steam), whereas others make a game available on many platforms (including console/mobile/tablet). I have personally noticed that many games who offer keys for more platforms tend to have more discussion from judges. It stands to reason, whilst many of the judges will play on a gaming PC, many judges either do not have a gaming PC, or prefer to play on another platform.
It's my recommendation to provide as many keys as possible for each platform. I would also note that whilst Xbox keys tend to be global keys, both Nintendo and PlayStation keys are region specific. As such, you need to provide at least USA and European keys for PlayStation and Nintendo (and there will be the option to label them as such on the IGF backend). Obviously, there are platform and/or publisher restrictions on how many keys you may be able to provide, but it is my recommendation to max these out as best you can. I would also say that you may wish to upload most of the keys you have, but then hold on to a reserve to upload as/when keys run out. That way you don't have a situation where you run out of keys and are waiting on a publisher/platform to restock. I would also encourage having a standalone direct download PC version if that's something you are able to support, but this should be an additional option, not a replacement for Steam etc keys.
A good rule of thumb would be to upload 50 keys for each platform, and to have 25 spare keys banked to upload if those first batches run out. If you get any pushback from a platform/publisher on additional key requests, I would suggests stressing that it’s because you have interested judges not able to play your game because the keys have ran out, and potentially winning a prestigious award is on the line. Note that some judges might request additional keys if the pool of available keys have ran out, but others might just move on to another game that does have keys available. They may not be able to make time to return to your game later on.

2. Game description.
I have seen some games that use standard marketing copy for the game description. This to me does not seem optimal. You are not actually trying to convince someone to part with their money here, you are trying to guide someone who is already invested in playing your game through the process. To me, far more useful advice is:
- Genre info (you may wish to make some comparisons to other titles, or general descriptions may be preferable).
- Playtime. Help judges manage their time: they may have a large number of other games they will be playing for judging. I would recommend giving information on how long you think it will take to complete your game, how long it will take for the game properly get started, and give some idea how much optional content there is, or to what extent it's designed for multiple playthroughs etc. Very long games can be intimidating for judges, but if you've got a 70 hour RPG that has begun to establish all the gameplay systems and there's a clear plot point that marks the end of the first chapter, share that info and how long that might take.
- Hardware specifics. I have seen first person games get criticised by judges because they don't play very well on a laptop touchpad. You can't assume that any of the judges are familiar with the genre your game is in, or even used to playing on a particular platform. Giving system requirements, suggested input devices, and even file size etc will be very useful. If your game has different performance profiles on i.e. PS4, PS4 Pro and PS5, detail the differences here, this may impact which platform a judge chooses to play on. The more detail, the better. If your game is not a finished game, by all means detail that there is still an optimization/polish process to be completed etc.

3. Press Info.
There is a section that can be used to inform the relevant press who are judges (which is many of the judges) about relevant info for them. You can say "this game is unannounced, please do not discuss this publicly", or "This game is released, please talk about it", but actually you can go a lot further. One of the main reasons to submit to this kind of award is to put your game in front of relevant press.
Instead of simply saying "this game is unannounced, please do not discuss this publicly", I would highly recommend instead saying "this game is not yet announced, however we would love to let you know when we have news to announce, please sign up to our press list here presssignup.gamewebsite.com" etc. You can even give a general window for announce if you have one.
Similarly, if you are both willing and able to work with press on coverage, this is a great place to say so (for either a released or unreleased game). If you're available for interviews, this is where you can say so, and tell press how they can contact you. I would even go as far to list who might be interesting on your team to talk to. If you've got a particularly noteworthy art style, I am sure that some press would be interested in speaking to the members of your team behind that. Or maybe the music and how it is integrated into your game is noteworthy etc. I would suggest framing the information here with a mind on "what could be a potentially interesting interview angle about our game" and giving a member of the press what they would need to achieve that.
I would even link to your social channels and give an email address here if you are comfortable sharing that info with a pool of vetted industrial professionals (albeit a wide pool of them). I am sure there are plenty of game scouts searching the IGFs for currently unsigned games, too, if you are looking for a publisher.
Since the vast majority of games submitted won't be award winners, expanding your network of relevant industry contacts can actually be one of the biggest benefits to submitting your game. There is no reason to say “N/A” unless you are specifically disinterested in getting any coverage for this game or future games.

4. Trailer
The IGF backend has an option to embed YouTube videos of your game. I would recommend leading with a brief unedited clip of gameplay that is as representative of your game as possible. A flashy edited trailer that splices in cutscenes etc is perhaps better at selling your game to a general audience, but many IGF judges just want to get an idea of how your game plays. If it is a game that is primarily focused on tone/mood/narrative, then that's maybe a little harder, but if you're hoping to win awards based on the gameplay, I would ensure to include a video centred on that. There is the option to embed more than one video (at least two, not sure if you can go beyond that), so perhaps one slick edited trailer and one direct capture representative gameplay is the way to go.

5. Developer Questions.
There is a form on entry pages where judges can submit questions to developers. The most common request is "can you please restock keys" (see point 1) but people also use this to submit tech support questions. If you are able to provide support via this, I would recommend doing so, and even mentioning that you will be responding to these questions as quickly as you are able to in the game description. I have seen some developers either not respond or respond very slowly to these, and judges may simply move on.
Probably goes without saying, but be polite as possible when answering questions. Judges are all volunteers, and your responses are viewable by all judges.

6. Steam beta branches.
If you are using a Steam beta branch for an unreleased title, try to make this clear for the judges, and give step by step instructions for how to go through this process. There are new judges added regularly, and many judges might be doing this for the first time.
Likewise, if you plan to put out updates through the judging period, which many games do, it may be a good idea to inform the judges of this ahead of time. If it’s early access and those updates are being pushed out publicly, might be worth linking to where judges can find out about game updates.
I personally do not think that submitting a game which is not yet ready for judging is wise. It often generates some controversy when there is a build that is barely functional submitted by the deadline, and then updated it through the judging window: It’s by many judges considered unfair on the other games which worked hard to be ready for the submission deadline. You may be better off simply waiting for next year if your game is too early to assess by the submission deadline.

7. Publicly discussing your involvement.
As you can see from a cursory search of twitter ( https://twitter.com/search?q=igf%20judging&src=typed_query&f=live ), plenty of judges publicly talk about their participation in judging. This will give you some on an idea of the people who participate. You may see from searches like this and elsewhere people that you already know are fond of your game(s). I personally don’t think actively lobbying specific individuals to consider your game for an award will be productive, but a public message like “Exciting to be participating in the IGFs with [game title] this year, along with some great other indie games” is worth doing. Many released games get nominations from judges that have already played them earlier in the year, and many judges who are predisposed to be interested in your game might not be aware that you are participating if they don’t actively search for your game. If you have a good network with industry/press folk, you probably have people who are judging in your network.