The best art direction category honors demoscene productions that excel in the fields of design, direction and graphical talent. While previous scene awards have also honored these fields their impact has rarely been considered in a more holistic sense. In this context art direction concerns the overall visual appearance of a demo, how it communicates visually and how do these factors complement the concept of the demo. These productions are aesthetically significant even outside their demoscene context.

The demoscene is not just about demos and intros. This category honors the best interactive productions of the year, such as games, musicdisks or interactive experiments.

Many low-end demos or intros feature pixeled delights by many artists that should be recognized for their great efforts and technical skills.

Most categories have a focus on technical achievements, but there are also a lot of productions trying to tell a story (and maybe not feature the latest and most awesome effect). This is also supposed to be another cross-platform/cross-compo category, as all productions alike (from music to gfx, demo to intro, dfox to Gartenzaun) can tell a story in their own way and media.

Size limitation is one of the most interesting traditions of the Demoscene that truly separates what we do from the modern in-game cinematics of late. The high quality music and visuals created by these tiny programs require immense skill to achieve from programmers and artists alike, which makes these productions stand in a category of their own.

Demos show off what sceners are capable of when they are allowed to use any of the available tools and techniques without limitation, using the latest hardware. This makes these productions a perfect showcase for the pinnacle of our art-form, and worthy of recognition.

A great demo cannot go without a great soundtrack, and making audio and visuals work together nicely is a big effort that must not be underestimated.

The ultimate one-man show for coders. Because tiny intros always have been a very important part of the scene but also needs more attention (compared to big demos).

Oldschool continues to be a strong pillar of the demoscene, with lots of amazing productions (mainly demos) released in 2015.

Released in a size-limited party competition, released as an intro, or regarded as an intro on its platform, and between 1K and 64K in size

"Faking it" has been part of the demoscene forever. And faking it so convincingly that jaws drop is what this category is supposed to honor. It is all about making the impossible possible, and doing things that you would not believe your machine is capable of.

This category is for everybody who has either made a memorable entrance into the demoscene in the past year (with their first productions), or suddenly came to full glory in 2015 (breakthrough improvement, new platform or discipline)

You suggest, you vote! This category is pure democracy!