On December 22, Edge will be announcing its annual Edge Heroes - the Top 25 Game Industry People of the Year Awards for 2008. This is the third year that we've taken the opportunity to honor the 25 people we believe have had the most positive impact on the games industry in the last 12 months.

These awards are chosen by the editors of Edge, but we rely heavily on nominations sent in by our friends in the games industry and readers of Edge.

If you believe someone you work with deserves to be included in this year's list, please send us that person's name and a very quick summary of his or her achievements this year ( just a few words is fine).  Don't be shy to nominate someone you work with - your nomination will be received in confidence - so feel free to send in the name of the boss, or the person who sits opposite you, if they've had a great year. You are also allowed to nominate yourself. You can nominate someone you admire, even if you don't work with that person.

You can nominate someone for any reason - creating a great product or service; managing a team well; inspiring others; being unfailingly competent and friendly; having some amazing ideas; charity work;  bringing the donuts in every Friday. It doesn't matter. We're looking for a broad range of individuals who deserve praise, no matter how high they are on the Great Game Industry Ladder, or how well known they are, or how glamorous their role.

Send us your nomination.

There are Prizes!

Anyone who wins a place in the top 25 automatically wins a year's free subscription to Edge magazine. We're also giving away an additional 10 year-long subscriptions to the nominators (that's you) we feel have made the strongest cases for their pick's nomination*. Entrants must be received by December 17.

We Have One Weird Little Rule

Anyone can be nominated, so long as they work in the game industry, or if their work has a significant positive impact on the game industry. However, for our 'People of the Year' awards, we have a general rule that any recipient named in the previous year, must have enjoyed an even better year to merit inclusion two years running. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to be named in two consecutive years.

Here is last year's list and the list for 2006.

 (2007)

25. Peter Raad
Founder/Executive Director
The Guildhall at SMU

24. Jade Raymond
Producer, Assassin's Creed
Ubisoft Montreal

23. Kathy Vrabeck
President, EA Casual Entertainment Division
EA

22. Jeff Bell
VP of Global Marketing
Microsoft

21. Rod Cousens
CEO
Codemasters

20. Mary Dolaher
CEO IFG World Expo
E For All

19. Kaz Hirai
President
SCE

18. George Harrison
Senior VP of Marketing and Corporate Communications
Nintendo

17.  Sukhbir Sidhu
Studio Director, Peggle
PopCap Games

16. Ron Simpson
Founder
Play N Trade

15. John Riccitiello
CEO
Electronic Arts

14. Scott Pease
Studio Director
Neversoft

13. Jamil Moledina
Executive Director
Game Developers Conference

12.  Cevat Yerli
CEO/Creative Director, Crysis
Crytek

11. Samantha Ryan
Senior Vice President, Development and Production
Warner Bros Interactive

10. Casey Hudson
Project Director, Mass Effect
BioWare

9. Ted Price
President and CEO
Insomniac

8. Jason West
Co-Studio Head/Project Lead, Call of Duty 4
Infinity Ward

7. Kim Swift
Project Lead, Portal
Valve Software

6. Yoshiaki Koizumi
Director, Super Mario Galaxy
Nintendo EAD

5. Harold Ryan
Studio Head
Bungie

4. Alex Rigopoulos
CEO
Harmonix

3. Ken Levine
Lead Designer, BioShock
2K Boston

2. Robert Kotick
President and CEO
Activision Blizzard

1. Satoru Iwata
President and CEO
Nintendo

2006

25. Patricia Vance
ESRB

24. Mike Cassidy
Xfire.

23. Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins
Penny Arcade

22. Laurent Detoc
Ubisoft

21. Torsten Reil
NaturalMotion

20. Jill Hamburger
Best Buy

19. Patrick Seybold
SCEA

18. Mitch Lasky
EA Mobile

17. Stacey Hirata
RedOctane

16. Dan DeMatteo
GameStop

15. Yannis Mallat
Ubisoft

14. Chris Delay
Introversion

13. Catherine Fowler
Konami

12. John Johnson
Relic Entertainment

11. Alfred Reynolds
Valve

10. Mark Beaumont
Capcom

9. Larry Hryb
Microsoft

8. Ted Price
Insomniac

7. Peter Dille
SCEA

6. Todd Howard
Bethesda

5. Jane Cavanagh
Eidos / SCi

4. Reggie Fils-Aime
Nintendo

3. Cliff Bleszinski
Epic Games

2. Satoru Iwata
Nintendo

1. Peter Moore
Microsoft

* The Top 25 list is compiled by the editors of Edge. Prize-winning nominators also chosen entirely by Edge editors. Winning names will only be published with the permision of winners.