On Thursday evening, May 29, a hush fell over Club Soda as the 16th Prix NUMIX Awards gathered Quebec’s tech vanguard to crown the year’s works. Produced by Xn Québec, the gala showed how Montreal continues to fuse art and code into magic.

A Jury Leaning Toward Vision

Co-presidents Nadia Seraiocco and Paolo Löffler steered a multidisciplinary panel through sixty-nine finalists, handing out twenty-two trophies, three special mentions, and a singular Homage Prize. “NUMIX rewards projects that shift cultural conversation,” Seraiocco told the packed floor. Löffler added that each edition “maps new narrative frontiers for the industry.”

Paolo Löffler, Nadia Seraiocco, Myriam Achard and Jeanne Dompierre | © Yankatphotojpg

Grand Prix: Welcome to Oto’s Planet

The top honour landed on Oto’s Planet, an interactive VR fable from Dpt., Skill Lab, and Small Creative. Players share a tranquil day with Oto and Skippy until a starship crash reframes notions of territory and empathy. The project also captured the XR Experience category, earning its team a MUTEK 26 pass and a creative retreat at La Piscine.

Grand Prix winner: Oto’s Planet | © Yankatphotojpg

Multiple Wins, Many Voices

Picbois Productions doubled up with Beau Dommage: La face cachée de l’album and Face à la danse, while Rodeo FX dazzled with Mika – Tournée Apocalypse Calypso and La Forêt des Merveilles.

La Forêt des Merveilles

Moment Factory and Village Québécois d’Antan elevated heritage tourism through Village Parallèle, victors in the In situ – Experience category. Musée de la civilisation’s exhibition Le Québec, autrement dit secured social-impact praise, confirming that digital storytelling can influence minds as well as metrics.

Village Parallèle

Fresh Talent, Inclusive Stories

Radio-Canada OHdio’s $5 000 Emerging Podcast prize crowned Nikan Héritage. The interactive exhibitions series ÉpiSens by CREO and Centre Psychosocial Richelieu-Yamaska won In situ – Exhibition plus a Télé-Québec grant. Inaru Films and ICI TOU.TV’s Les Météorites earned the Diversity & Inclusion mention, backed by the Canada Media Fund. UQAT Montréal’s Physarum clinched Student honours, unlocking mentorship from SYNTHÈSE, SAT, and Moment Factory. Impossible Studio’s sun-dappled platformer Été captured Independent Game, earning MIGS 2025 passes courtesy of La Guilde du jeu vidéo du Québec.

Les Météorites

An International Lens

NUMIX’s global categories highlighted French XR piece Impulse: Playing With Reality, which turns ADHD into an embodied puzzle; Czech-U.K. coproduction Strange Attractions, merging light architecture with physics poetry; Animalis Machina, where AI tends imaginary fauna; and National Geographic’s activist exhibition Nature Vive. Each entry underscored Montreal’s reputation as a node in a worldwide circuit.

Nature Vive

Homage to a Digital Trailblazer

The room rose as Monique Savoie, president-founder and artistic director of the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) from 1996 to 2021, accepted the Homage Prize. From orchestrating Canada’s first interactive installation in 1997 to building the planetarium-like Satosphère, Nini de Saint-Sat has spent three decades turning bold concepts into beloved venues.

Monique Savoie | © Yankatphoto

Policy Winds at the Back

The gala coincided with Minister Mathieu Lacombe’s Bill 108, officially folding digital creativity into SODEC’s funding mandate. SODEC president and general manager Louise Lantagne hailed the reform as “the missing toolkit studios need to scale internationally.” New financial instruments promise to turn last night’s applause into tomorrow’s payroll.

Louise Lantagne | © Merryl B Lavoie

Why NUMIX Matters

Beyond photo-ops and confetti, the Prix NUMIX Awards track the evolution of storytelling itself: empathy in VR, inclusive casting in audio, and heritage sites reimagined through projection mapping.

If you missed the festivities, bookmark these winners; what premiered on Saint-Laurent Boulevard will ripple through museums, festivals, and headsets worldwide.

Check the full list on the NUMIX website and subscribe to their newsletter for backstage interviews, industry analysis, and creative career tips from Montreal’s thriving digital scene.

For a complete winners list and project trailers, visit numix.ca/palmares-2025 now where each work is archived.

© Merryl B Lavoie

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