The First Penguin award looks back to the industry's history to recognize the courage and bravery of a developer who tested the proverbial "waters", uncertain of success or failure. A "first penguin" served as a lesson, and inspiration, to the rest of the community over the years.

The idea for the First Penguin award came from Noah Falstein, president of The Inspiracy and game developer veteran. Noah has a bizarre fascination with penguins, and came across the concept of the first penguin when reading the child's book "Mr. Potter's Penguins".

In order to help understand the reasoning behind all this, we look to the detailed observations of Peter Brueggeman, director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library at the University of California in San Diego.

"I spent considerable time sitting still at a point regularly used by penguins to jump in the water. If you sit still, the Adelie penguins don't mind that you are there; fifty to eighty penguins would crowd around in front of me waiting to jump in. So what does it take for them to jump in? They watch the water and when a large group of penguins comes swimming into their immediate area, the Adelie penguins start getting very vocal. They start jostling, jockeying for position, squabbles break out, beaks peck back and forth, some flipper bashing back and forth, lots more loud discussion, more jostling, more pecking, and finally the braver ones will jump in followed by an immediate chain reaction of everyone rushing to jump in the pool all at the same time, no waiting, every person for themselves. Of course this isn't good enough for some timid ones who hesitate a bit and then decide the time isn't just right for them and stay back.

It was a blast to watch this right behind the penguins; they were close enough to touch (but I didn't reach out since Nature is not a petting zoo). If I could anthropomorphize them and then translate into words my impression of a penguin group's verbal and bodily behavior while they mill around before diving into the water, it would go like this:

HEY, HERE COMES SOME PENGUINS -- Looks like a lot of them -- Do you think we should go in? -- NO, LET'S WAIT FOR MORE PENGUINS -- Hey, I think that's enough penguins; let's go in -- I'M NOT GOING IN -- Stop pushing (peck) -- I DIDN'T PUSH; HE DID (peck back and peck at another penguin) -- I didn't push; don't peck me (flipper bashing) -- Hey, I'm going to move over here away from you rowdies -- HEY, YOU STEPPED ON MY FEET (peck, peck) -- You pushed me too (peck) -- Hey, stop pecking me (peck, peck, peck) -- Hey, that's a lot of penguins in the water -- No, it isn't and I think there's a leopard seal lurking and ready to eat us -- I'M JUMPING IN -- DON'T JUMP IN YET -- I'm going (splash) -- I'M GOING IN (splash) -- DON'T JUMP IN -- I'm going (splash) -- I'm going (splash) -- I'm going (splash) -- I'm not going and I think you're stupid to go -- Me, too; let them get eaten!

You get the idea. Incredibly loud discussion and commotion -- jumping in happens when it seems to reach a fever pitch. Looks a bit silly but it isn't; it is serious business. After all, these Adelie penguins have to worry about getting caught and eaten by leopard seals and orca killer whales patrolling the shorelines. A penguin by itself is at greater risk than a penguin in a group with many eyes watching for predators and many voices to sound the alarm. If there are lots of penguins already in the water in front of you, then it is likely to be safe to go in. If you jump in as a group, you are safer then if you jump in alone. Watching the penguins go through their behaviors of marching up and down the shoreline en masse and then waiting for incredibly long periods of time to jump in starts to make sense if you are the chicken of the sea."

© Peter Brueggeman. Source: Antarctic Journal of Peter Brueggeman