The Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming is coveted in the tabletop industry. Founded in 2001, the award is gifted to people, products, concepts, or groups that have demonstrated spectacular quality within the industry. Now we have Diana Jones Award 2024 Emerging Designer winners, highlighting new talent in the industry.
The Diana Jones Award Emerging Designer winners
According to a post on their official website, the Diana Jones Award for Emerging Designer went to four deserving winners. These winners were decided via an anonymous committee of 50 industry professionals, including designers, creatives, consultants, and publishers.
The first of these winners is Quinn Brander. Brander was the creative voice behind 2023's Rebuilding Seattle, an economic city-building game with a simple ruleset. He is working on a 2025 follow-up, Rebuilding Chicago, and an ambitious co-op roguelike campaign game.
Winner number two is Puerto-Rican British TTRPG designer and project manager Taylor Navarro. Navarro is a Big Bad Con Scholar whose work includes Tales of Sina Una, D&D 5e, The Seeker's Guide to Enchanting Emporiums, and her own indie project Not Yet: A Romantic Duet TTRPG.
Notably, Taylor is recognized for her commitment to raising up fellow creators. She co-organized the Dragonmeet 2023 POC Lounge and Networking Mixer and regular contributor to the UK Tabletop Industry Network.
The third Diana Jones Award winner for Emerging Designer is Clarence Simpson. Simpson's career began in videogame development but dove into board game development in 2019. Since then, he has been the co-designer on the award-winning board game The Wolves and designed A Message From The Stars, Chomp, and Merchants of Magick.
The fourth and final winner is Basil Wright. Wright's design philosophy is to make games that promote community, have a low barrier to entry, and draw magic from the mundane. Their body of work are notably weird entries like Pelogos, You're Naked, Run!, and You Can (Not) Pet The Cat.
All four winners will receive a prize package worth over $6500. The package includes a one-year voting membership in GAMA and an expenses-paid trip to Gen Con 2024.
Past winners of the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming have been venerable names in the industry. Those winners include Erlc Lang (Bloodborne: The Board Game), the board game Ticket To Ride, and the very concept of actual plays like Dimension20 and Critical Role.
