The ESA has been making some big moves as of late, fighting the good fight in trying to curb game regulations and taxes, and sending their own people to Washington to try and educate people about the state of the industry and get equal representation like any other body such as the RIAA and MPAA. The ESA in 2008 adds one more feather to their cap though by announcing a new scholarship opportunity system, one that will offer $45,000 in scholarships for full-time female designers and minority applicants pursuing careers in video game development. The 15 spots available will end up delivering $3000 per year to each applicant, not a bad deal at all especially in a first year run for the program.

Hopefully the ESA will continue to track these students into their careers so we can have live examples of people coming up through their system and showing what they can do and what others can do if they apply themselves. The video game industry is one that really does thrive on creativity, as such the more minds that arrive the better things can move along, I mean really we don't want to ride Miyamoto and Kojima to death in their oldest age of retirement for new ideas do we?

From the ESA:

“Positions in our industry are high-paying jobs with a remarkable potential to inspire and entertain millions of Americans. We hope these scholarships will encourage students to pursue careers in this growing and lucrative field,” said Michael Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA, which represents U.S. computer and game publishers.  “We offer this program to help create our industry’s next generation who will boost the industry’s creative capital with new and unique approaches.”

Those interested should check out the ESA Scholarship website managed by Scholarship Management Services [Link]