Thanks to the workings of a judging panel including representatives of Orange, Scoreloop, ARM, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Touch Arcade and yes, Pocket Gamer, the 263 games submitted for the 2011 IMGAs have been reduced down to 30 nominees.

Spread across six categories, several companies gained more than one mention, with Gameloft, Fishlabs, NaturalMotion, and augmented reality experts A Different Game all gaining two game nominations.

Deadline to win

As expected most of the games were released on iOS, although some have since been released on Android, while Southend Interactive's ilomilo is a Windows Phone 7 exclusive.

The final judging session will take place prior to Mobile World Congress, with the winners announced in a ceremony during the event on February 17.

The full list of nominations for the 7th IMGAs is as follows.

Best casual game
Bird Strike (PikPok)
Bulba the Cat (C4M)
Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick)
Jenga (NaturalMotion)
Plants vs Zombies (PopCap)

Best real world game
AR Invaraders (Soulbit7)
Blaze (A Different Game)
Ghostwire (A Different Game)
Pocket Critter (Jilin Animation Institution)
Tourality (creative workline)

Best sports game
Billabong Surf Trip (Biodroid/Chillingo)
Championship Manager 2011 (Dynamo Games)
Icebreaker (NaturalMotion)
Let's Golf! 2 (Gameloft)
Snowboard Hero (Fishlabs)

Excellence in design
Galaxy on Fire 2 (Fishlabs)
ilomilo (Southend Interactive)
Infinity Blade (Chair Entertainment)
Real Racing 2 (Firemint)
Zen Bound 2 (Secret Exit)

Excellence in gameplay
Beyond Ynth (Krabl/FDG Entertainment)
Guns'n'Glory (Handygames)
N.O.V.A. 2 (Gameloft)
Perfect Cell (Mobigames)
Pix'n Love Rush (Pastagames/Bulkypix)

Most innovative game
Anomaly Warzone Earth (11 bit studios)
EpicWin (Supermono)
Finger Balance (Coconut Island)
Papa Sangre (Somethin' Else)
The Line (Ant Hive Games)

You can find out more details from the IMGA website, or check out photos from the session here.