Hidden Agenda Game Contest
Last year the winner of this contest was USC communications major (and 488 alumni) Ethan Levy. Ethan is now working at PlayFirst, making a living making games -- alright Ethan!
Here is info for those who might be interested in entering: www.hiddenagenda.com
-- The contest is open to undergrads and grad students (teams of up to 8 people), offers a $25,000 prize to the winners (and many additional prizes), is extremely flexible in type of game built (platform, engines used, etc.), and only must fulfill two goals -- it has to be incredibly fun for middle school students, and it has to "secretly" teach them along the way.
-- Intent to compete (with a rough initial concept) is due December 15, but the games aren't due till May. This not only gives students time to build, but also an opportunity, if possible, to get second semester credit for the project (I work with lots of advisors to make this happen). In the least, a lot of students use their entries as the main "portfolio" item to get their first post-college jobs.