(Art by Thurnip)

Contest finalists have been chosen!

Before announcing our finalists, we want to thank everyone for participating and giving your feedback: with over 150 entries, this event has thus far exceeded expectations in every way.

We strongly considered adding an “honorable mentions” addendum to this announcement, but realized there were simply too many maps which came extremely close to becoming finalists, lacking only one of our “big three” judging criteria components.

Now, without futher ado…

THE FINALISTS:

(in no particular order)

DE_ROYAL

By Jakuza

Workshop Link

DE_EMPIRE

By Andre Valera

Workshop Link

DE_BOURG

by Klems

Workshop Link

DE_COAST

By Ornate Baboon

Workshop Link

These exciting levels exhibit competitive potential, excellent visual presentation, AND a satisfying level of polish, making them truly strong representatives for our talented community. As finalists competing for the grand prize, the authors of these levels will be able to update their work based on your feedback, including fine-tuning their competitive layouts using public playtesting over on Reddit. Let's support them on their journey!

To check out the excellent prizes awaiting our finalists (including money prizes + official Valve merchandise), click here.

Congratulations, finalists!

...but who will be the Grand Prize Winner? Find out September 30th.

P.S. – To all our wonderful participants: don't despair. Level design is an art to be pursued for its own sake, and brilliant work should always be celebrated and studied. Additionally, Valve has consistently supported CS:GO community mapping, and Valve Operations remain a lucrative and thrilling opportunity for community mappers such as yourself. Valve’s criteria for Operations can be found here.

"Never give up." - Hurg