2022 Diana Jones Award

The 2022 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming was presented at the annual Diana Jones Award ceremony in Indianapolis on August 3, the unofficial start of the Gen Con Indy convention.

The winner is Ajit George, an activist and game designer advocating for a more representative hobby games industry.

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.

Ajit George’s finalist citation explains why he was up for the award:

Ajit George

Ajit George has been a tireless activist in games who draws on his extensive nonprofit experience in poverty alleviation to advocate for a more representative and equitable industry. For over a decade, he has worked with individuals and organizations to change the trajectory of the community. In 2016, he helped lead a groundbreaking year for Gen Con, which achieved gender parity and greater representation for both POCs and LGBTQ+ for its Industry Insider Speaker slate for the first time in its history. In 2019, he created and continues to lead a POC training and mentoring program which matches industry veterans from Bioware, Evil Hat, Riot, Wizards of the Coast, and other companies with up-and-coming POC professionals looking to break into the industry. He also conceived and led the first POC games industry mixer at Big Bad Con in 2019, which led to 75+ job opportunities at a wide variety of companies including Critical Role, Darrington Press, Evil Hat, Paradox, and Wizards of the Coast. As a game writer, he has been the first writer of Indian origin to write Indian-inspired material for a number of games, including Dungeons & Dragon’s Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. He most recently conceived, project-led, and wrote for the first book written entirely by POCs in Dungeon’s and Dragon’s 48-year history, Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel.

Visit his website at ajitageorge.com

4 thoughts on “2022 Diana Jones Award

  1. Andrew, There is no Diana Jones. As the FAQ says (and you could have easily looked this up), “Who is Diana Jones? Nobody. The only visible part of the Indiana Jones logo within the trophy has been burnt away so that it reads Diana Jones, and the award takes its name from that.”

  2. Mike Glyer says They named it after the dog?

    Snark!

    They’re really an exercise in silliness when it comes to the name. The idea that they’re named after an shorten Indiana Jones name doesn’t bear thinking about.

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