Announcing the nomination period for the 2019 Dr. Mark Kline Award for Mental Health Representation in Games (AKA “The Dr. Mark Award”)! Named after Take This’ first clinical director, the Dr. Mark Award is awarded to one video game which represents excellence in compassionate, non-stigmatizing portrayals of mental health and mental health challenges.

Our first award recipient in 2017 was Stardew Valley, which compassionately depicted the mental health struggles of many of its non-player characters. As the player, you retained the option of interacting with all the NPCs in a manner which inspired hope and healing on their part.

Any commercially-released video game from the 2018 and 2019 calendar years is eligible for this award, so long as it meets the following criteria:

• It had its first, English language release during the 2018 or 2019 calendar years.
• It was fully released during the 2018 or 2019 calendar years.
• It does not need to be a “feel-good” story.
• The game takes care to portray mental health challenges in a compassionate manner which does not reinforce harmful stereotypes.

The nomination form can be found here. Nominations will be open until 11:59pm Pacific time, January 25, 2020, and the winner will be announced at an event held during the Game Developers Conference, March 16-20, 2020.