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Three students and one staff member from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) are competing for awards at the largest digital games and entertainment event in the country, theBrazilian Games and Digital Entertainment Symposium (SBGames) 2026. The four are finalists in two festivals within the congress.

At the Arts Festival, Bianca Teles, a student of the Bachelor of Visual Arts program, is competing in the Concept Art and Fanart categories with the illustrations "My Spy Heist" and "Theatrical Chase". The first illustration is part of a game that she herself developed the environments and objects for. "Theatrical Chase" was inspired by Carnival Hunt, a multiplayer survival game that combines themes such as Steampunk and circus. "I found it very fun to immerse myself in the game's story in this way and I had more motivation to create," she says.

In the InGame Screenshot category of the same festival, Luiz Carlos de Carvalho, a third-party laboratory assistant and former Design course student, and Lucas Knopp, a student of the Computer Science course, are competing with the illustration "Target Selection".

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The laboratory assistant says that Professor Letícia Perani, from the Institute of Arts and Design (IAD), presented the event and provided support in the process. According to him, the recognition that the festival provides serves as fuel to produce even more. "The idea is to participate in more events like this in the coming years."

The student of the Bachelor of Visual Arts is another representative of UFJF at the Analog Games Festival as a finalist with the board game "Lost Luggage", developed during the "Analog Games Workshop" at the IAD.

Participation in festivals

The UFJF has been participating in the SBGames festivals since 2017. Students from various courses at the IAD have had more than 50 illustrations selected for the official event selection, winning two first-place and two third-place awards in 2019, as well as an Honorable Mention in 2017.

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According to Professor Letícia Perani, the institutional programs offered by UFJF, such as Pibiart, encourage research in the field of games. She also emphasizes the importance of student participation in events such as SBGames 2026 and believes that recognition of their work motivates students to continue improving, as well as bringing visibility to academic production.

The final results of the Arts Festival will be announced on September 8th, and the SBoardGames results will be announced during the event, which will be held in Goiânia, from September 29th to October 2nd, 2026.

Other information:

Brazilian Symposium on Games and Digital Entertainment (SBGames)