Sony, in an attempt to expand diversity in the gaming industry, is encouraging more women to join the field that is filled with and dominated by men. They created the G.I.R.L (Gamers in Real Life) scholarship of $10,000. This scholarship’s purpose was to lead and encourage more women on the path to becoming a video game designer and/or developer.

Award amount: $10, 000
Deadline: June 3, 2018
Eligibility: Any individual who is currently enrolled at an accredited school in an undergraduate or graduate program related to video games, including programs related to video game art, design, animation, production, programming or visual effects, has an average GPA of 3.0 or higher, and will not graduate before the end of the spring term is eligible to enter.

Sony Online Entertainment alongside the scholarship money, provides an internship opportunity to the winner. During the 10 week paid internship at Sony’s headquarters in San Diego, the intern can work on concept art and game design used with real games which provides the intern with experience in the field. The winner of the scholarship and internship also has the opportunity to work alongside other professionals in the field that help them gain more experience and one day have a job in that line of work.

Those who are interested in a scholarship opportunity like this can apply on scholarships.com or want to apply for Sony’s internships can apply on SOE’s website.

There are also other internship and job opportunities in many other companies involved with gaming and concept design. If you look at your favorite gaming company’s website, they may have an opportunity that you can use to your advantage and apply for an internship to help you get started in the gaming industry. Internship sites such as indeed.com and internships.com are also very helpful when trying to find internships that interest you that are in the area.