Diana Jones Award Explained

Diana Jones Award
Awarded For:Excellence in gaming
Presenter:Diana Jones committee
Year:2001
Website:http://www.dianajonesaward.org/

The Diana Jones Award is an annual award for "excellence in gaming". The original award was made from a burned book encased in lucite.[1] The award is unusual in two ways: first, it is not an award for a specific class of thing, but can be awarded to a person, product, publication, company, organization, event or trend – anything related to gaming; second, it does not count popularity or commercial success as a sign of "excellence".[2] The award was first presented in 2001.[3]

Nominees are circulated during the year to the committee, which is mostly anonymous but which is known to include Peter Adkison, Matt Forbeck, John Kovalic and James Wallis.[4] The committee is anonymous to protect the voting process from interference, but individual judges are free to reveal themselves. The committee releases a shortlist of three to seven nominees in spring, and the award is presented to the winner at Gen Con in Indianapolis in August.

History

The Diana Jones trophy was originally created as a keepsake in the UK offices of TSR in the mid 1980s to commemorate the ending of their license to publish The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game.[5] The trophy itself was a lucite pyramid containing the burnt remains of the last unsold copy of the game; all that was legible of the title was "diana Jones". (There is no relation of the award with fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones.) The trophy was "liberated" and eventually ended up with the Diana Jones committee.[6] The destruction of "one of the least-loved and critically savaged games of all time" was seen an appropriate symbol for an award for excellence in gaming.[7] The trophy also contains a counter that reads "Nazi™" from the game.[8] While the trademark claim was present at Lucasfilm's insistence, it led to rumors that TSR had tried to trademark the term.

In October 2021, it was announced that the physical award had been lost in transit. A committee member stated "Perhaps it now sits in a box inside a warehouse somewhere, as forgotten and unappreciated as the Ark of the Covenant at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark." A new physical award was debuted in 2022, and the committee announced the launch of a new award, the Diana Jones Emerging Designer Program.[9] [10]

The Diana Jones Committee became a 501(c)(3) registered charity in 2023.[11]

Past winners

Emerging Designer Program winners

The Diana Jones Emerging Designer Program is awarded to "rising and impactful talent in the analog tabletop/hobby games industry" and aims to amplify "the voices of up-and-coming designers with a focus on creators from marginalized communities".[24] It was launched in 2021. Since 2023, the program was awarded to four winners.[25]

Additional reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tabletop gaming's most coveted trophy is a burned book . 10 August 2016 . Polygon.
  2. Web site: About the Diana Jones Award . 2008-08-24 . The Diana Jones Award committee . https://web.archive.org/web/20080516195258/http://www.dianajonesaward.org/about.html . live. 2008-05-16 .
  3. Web site: The Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming . 2008-08-24 . The Diana Jones Award committee . https://web.archive.org/web/20080818183237/http://www.dianajonesaward.org/ . live . 2008-08-18 .
  4. Web site: Gaming's Nobel Prize, the Diana Jones Award, selects Gen Con, Gloomhaven and Terraforming Mars among 2017 nominees . 7 June 2017 . Tabletop Gaming .
  5. "JAMES WALLIS: ...Eventually the Lucasfilm license expires and is not renewed. The word comes down from TSR head office to TSR UK that all unsold copies are to be destroyed, as per the terms of the license. The guys at TSR UK... got the final unsold copy and they destroyed it.... in strategic ways, by singeing bits of it. They took the singed remains, which included the logo, from which they'd burned the first two letters, to turn it from 'Indiana Jones' to 'Diana Jones,' and they encased these remains in a Perspex pyramid." (Laws 2007, p 139)
  6. "JAMES WALLIS: ... let's just say it was liberated from TSR UK by persons unnamed, and made its ways into the hands of the committee...." (Laws 2007, p 137)
  7. "JAMES WALLIS: ... a trophy that symbolizes the destruction of one of the least-loved and critically savaged games of all time would make suitable symbol for an award that celebrated excellence in gaming." (Laws 2007, p 137)
  8. "MATT FORBECK:...the last copy of the Indiana Jones roleplaying games.... It actually has one of the legendary counters in it that reads 'Nazi™.' Which apparently was not TSR's idea, but Lucasfilm insisted that everything that appeared in the game have a "TM" next to it." (Laws 2007, p 139)
  9. Web site: The Lost Trophy. October 2021. 8 October 2021.
  10. News: One of tabletop gaming’s most prestigious awards has gone missing. Hall. Charlie. Polygon. 8 October 2021. 8 October 2021.
  11. Web site: Matt Forbeck's Mastodon: Gamers! Check the presentation of this year's Diana Jones Award! It was a fantastic night, and now you can watch the whole thing. (Warning: Includes me going on about a lot of wonderful people.) . Forbeck. Matt. mastodon.social. 9 August 2023. 9 August 2023.
  12. Web site: Diana Jones Award 2010. 6 May 2011.
  13. Web site: Diana Jones Award 2011 . 5 November 2011.
  14. Web site: Nordic Larp Won the Diana Jones Award!. 16 August 2012. 16 August 2012.
  15. wilw. Wil 'Kick the Nazis off the tweeters' Wheaton. 367832253054713856. 15 August 2013.
    1. tabletop won the Diana Jones Award! It's like the Stanley Cup of gaming! Celebrating with @thegamesmith
    .
  16. Currently on the main website page
  17. Web site: The 2018 Award. August 9, 2018.
  18. Web site: The 2019 Award . The Diana Jones Award . 2019 . 31 August 2021.
  19. News: Hall . Charlie . 30 July 2020 . One of tabletop gaming's biggest awards celebrates Black creators . Polygon . 16 August 2020.
  20. Web site: 2020-06-26 . The 2020 Award . 2023-04-16 . The Diana Jones Award . en-US.
  21. Web site: 2021-07-14 . The 2021 Award . 2023-04-22 . The Diana Jones Award . en-US.
  22. News: Dohm-Sanchez . Jeffrey . 2022-08-04 . 'D&D' Author Ajit George Wins the Diana Jones Award . ICv2 . 2022-08-04.
  23. Web site: The 2023 Award. The Diana Jones Award.
  24. Web site: 2022-05-17 . Program FAQ . 2023-03-21 . The Diana Jones Award . en-US.
  25. Web site: 2023-05-05 . 2023 Emerging Designers . 2023-05-05 . The Diana Jones Award . en-US.
  26. Web site: Carter . Chase . August 4, 2021 . Jeeyon Shim wins 2021 Diana Jones Emerging Designer Program . March 20, 2023 . Dicebreaker.
  27. Web site: August 4, 2022 . 'D&D' Author Ajit George Wins The Diana Jones Award . March 21, 2023 . . en.
  28. Web site: Hall . Charlie . June 7, 2022 . Author of ARC: Doom tabletop RPG honored as Diana Jones Emerging Designer . March 21, 2023 . Polygon . en-US.
  29. Web site: 2024 Emerging Designers . The Diana Jones Award . en-US.

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