
^ a b c d "2005 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists".Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. ^ a b c d "2004 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists".^ a b c "1999 Independent Games Festival Winners & Finalists"."Locals indie game studios recognised in major industry event".
A Monster's Expedition (Through Puzzling Exhibitions). Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!". Some developers have won the prize twice, either solo or as part of a larger team: Alec Holowka for Aquaria and Night in the Woods, and Lucas Pope for Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn. Games do not have to be published in order to qualify for the prize when Fez won the award in 2012, it was still undergoing pre-release certification. The Stanley Parable achieved the same feat, becoming an honorable mention in 2013 and a finalist in 2014. FTL: Faster Than Light was the first game to have been both an honorable mention and a finalist, achieving the former in 2012 and the latter in 2013. Additionally, Gish is the only finalist to win the prize in a subsequent edition of the festival. Gish and Seed are the only games to become finalists in multiple editions of the event.
From 2011 onwards, a list of "Honorable Mentions", composed of games that were not finalists, was introduced. The award was split into two for the 20 Independent Games Festival events, but was merged back into a single prize in 2006. Fire and Darkness became the first recipient of the award in the 1999 edition of the Independent Games Festival. Twenty-six video games have received the award, and more than 50 have been selected as finalists.