The Independent Games Festival is the premiere awards show for indie games. imo, it's way more important to cultivating cool and innovative things than any of the other major awards which tend to focus on stale titles from big studios. It's the one games event of the year I almost always watch since it's so full of joy and weirdness and passion rather than cynical grandeur.
Unlike other awards, it's as likely to feature upcoming and unreleased games that are planning to release within a year as well as games that released in ~2025, so long as there's a compelling build to judge behind the scenes.
Any listed game nominated in any award category resolves YES. At present, the finalist announcements are expected in January 2026, with all games in contention having already been submitted by now.
(Award Info: igf.com )
You're welcome to add your own answers! We can't possibly anticipate them all.