2021 Diana Jones Award Shortlist

Six nominees for the 2021 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming have been announced — two conventions, two publishers, a designer, and a board game:

  • Big Bad Con’s 2019 Babble On Equity Project and PoC Programming, a fundraising effort to bring people of color to Big Bad Con. 
  • The Game Crafter, a print-on-demand manufacturing service for tabletop games. 
  • Nibcard Games, a game publisher/manufacturer. 
  • Mike Pondsmith, a game designer. 
  • Session Zero Online, an online tabletop gaming convention.
  • Wingspana board game by Elizabeth Hargrave, published by Stonemaier Games. 

The award is given to the person, product, company, event or any other thing that has, in the opinion of the Diana Jones committee, best demonstrated the quality of ‘excellence’ in the world of tabletop gaming in the previous year. The award website discusses each nominee in detail here.

The Diana Jones Award committee has also announced the inaugural Diana Jones Emerging Designer Program, seeking “to highlight rising and impactful talent in the analog tabletop game industry.”

It takes special care to focus on communities that have historically been excluded from the larger industry conversations. This year’s winner will receive a Gen Con package that includes a free badge, hotel room, travel reimbursement, and a food stipend. The chosen designer and their work will be showcased during their annual awards event. We are excited for the opportunity to highlight creators whose breakout designs push the industry forward toward better and more inclusive storytelling while enriching gaming as a whole.

The 2021 Diana Jones Award ceremony will be held in Indianapolis on Wednesday, September 15, the night before Gen Con, the world’s largest tabletop games convention.

3 thoughts on “2021 Diana Jones Award Shortlist

  1. Indeed, Diana Wynne Jones was Someone, while “Diana Jones” is what’s readable on the award, a perspex pyramid containing the charred remains of the last burned box of the Indiana Jones Adventure Game.

  2. Congratulations to Elizabeth Hargrave & Stonemaier Games! I love “Wingspan”!

Comments are closed.