WiiWare may only be a few weeks old but one of its titles is already gaining recognition from within the industry. The game in question is Frontier Developments' sublime LostWinds, which has been nominated in the ‘Best New IP’ and ‘Visual Arts’ categories in the prestigious Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Frontier has also been nominated in the ‘Best Independent Developer’ category.

Here’s the press release:

DEVELOP INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2008 NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

The finalists for the Develop Industry Excellence Awards 2008 have today been revealed – with Rockstar and Ninja Theory leading the way with an impressive five nominations apiece.

Now in its sixth year, this year's Develop Industry Excellence Awards ceremony is being held at the Hilton Metropole, Brighton on Wednesday July 30th, where leading lights from the games industry's development community will gather for a lavish celebration of their creative genius.

This year's Awards ceremony is expected to play host to over 500 of Europe's leading games designers and is the only event in the calendar to exclusively doff its cap to the development community.

With record-breaking sales and huge critical acclaim for Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar North boasts four nominations: Visual Arts, Audio Accomplishment, Technical Innovation, Best In-house Developer, with its newest studio, Rockstar London, hoping to scoop the award for Best New UK/European Studio.

Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (Heavenly Sword) are also a strong contender to walk away with the plaudits, nominated as they are in five categories: Best New IP, Visual Arts, Audio accomplishment, Technical Innovation, and Best Independent Developer.

Frontier Development (Lost Winds) and Criterion Games (Burnout Paradise) are also looking to make a splash with three nominations each.

"This year's finalists showcase the massive amount of games development talent found in Europe," said Michael French, Editor of Develop.

"Be it digitally-distributed games, MMOs, first-person shooters or action-adventures, there's no area of the industry that hasn't been bolstered by Europe's diverse sector of games development companies in the past year. We wish all of the nominees the best of luck and look forward to seeing them on what's set to be a great night."

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards are voted for by a panel of 100 industry experts.

This is excellent news for Frontier as LostWinds is one of the first digitally distributed titles to be nominated at such a prestigious event.