The Virtual Reality Foundation have announced dates for both the VRLA Summer Expo and the 2015 Proto Awards today. We take a look at what to expect from the events.

The Virtual Reality Foundation, a non-profit consortium comprising professionals from the industry, have today outlined their plans for two major VR events later this year.

First up we have the Virtual Reality Los Angeles (VRLA) Summer Expo. The event has grown from a casual community meetup to be a red letter date in the VR events calendar. The last event attracted some 3000 VR enthusiasts and the newly announced Summer expo, due to take place on August 29th, promises to grow yet further in line with the VR industry itself. The event will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center and tickets for the event go on sale today. If you’re interested, head over to the VRLA website and grab yourself a place.

vrla-2014

A few weeks after VRLA, and cunningly scheduled just prior to Oculus’ second ‘Connect’ developer event, the 2nd Proto Awards, an event to highlight and promote talent and achievements in the VR industry, will be held at AVALON Hollywood. The Proto Award Gala will take place on September 22nd and promises, as last year, to offer the VR industry and developer community the chance to get glammed-up for an irreverent glance back at the last 12 months in VR. Last year’s event was a great success, with gongs awarded to the likes of Riftmax, Survios (for Zombies on the Holodeck) and Sightline: The Chair.

the proto awards (2)
Survios’ Graham Matuszewski accepted awards on behalf of the company. He thanked the pioneers of VR that have been working for many decades on the medium

Categories for the 2015 Proto Awards are below and submissions will open on July 1st, keep your eyes on the Proto Awards website for further information should you be looking to enter.

  • Best GUI
  • Best Art Direction
  • Best Live Action Experience
  • Best Interaction Design
  • Best Social Experience
  • Best Score
  • Best Sound Design
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  • Best Educational Experience
  • Best Mobile Experience
  • Best Student Experience
  • Best Independent Experience
  • Most Transportive
  • Most Innovative

Submission Guidelines

Any virtual reality experience made available for public download between September 20, 2014 and July 15, 2015 – for free or for a fee – may be submitted for the 2015 Proto Awards. Experiences exhibited privately or in installations or other limited availability may not be submitted. Submissions must remain available for public download through December 31, 2015. Teams submitting in the Student category must be led by a student enrolled in elementary, high school, 2- or 4-year college, masters or PhD program as of July 15, 2015.

Check out our previous coverage on last year’s event here to get a flavour for what you can expect from September’s event.

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Paul James
Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.