SpecialEffect honoured with Games For Change Giving Award
Thursday, July 30th, 2026
Image above: SpecialEffect Founder and CEO Mick Donegan (r) accepts the award alongside COO Tom Donegan
July 2026: SpecialEffect were deeply honoured to be presented with the Games For Change Giving Award, which recognises organisations whose generosity, leadership, and commitment to service have created meaningful impact through the power of games.
The awards were the highlight event of the Games For Change (G4C) Festival in New York. Founded in 2004, Games for Change is a US nonprofit organisation empowering and mobilising creators, developers, educators, and global partners to drive real-world change through games. The festival is a two-day event comprising talks, panel discussions, expo and the prestigious Games For Change Awards, which this year was hosted by Anjali Bhimani and Osric Chau.
Previous recipients of the award have included Humble Bundle, Games Done Quick, Child’s Play, DrLupo, and Twitch, so we were certainly in good company! Also in attendance that evening was SpecialEffect Ambassador Jenn Panattoni, who received the Vanguard Award.
A real highlight of the Festival was talking to Robert Steen, father of Mats ‘Ibelin’ Steen, and hearing more about the eagerly awaited biographical drama version of his son story, called simply ‘Ibelin’.
It was also a pleasure to meet with Marty McMahon from the Texas Children’s Hospital and find out how the videos and resources on our gameaccess.info website are being used to support the work there. A wonderful example of the global impact we’re now having on improving the lives of people with physical disabilities.
A huge thank you to everyone involved in making #G4C2026 such a special experience and celebrating the work of SpecialEffect in this way.