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]
Diana Jones Award | |
---|---|
Awarded for | Excellence in gaming |
Presented by | Diana Jones committee |
First awarded | 2001 |
Website | http://www.dianajonesaward.org/ |
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.[2] The committee releases a shortlist of three to seven nominees[2] in spring, and the award is presented to the winner at Gen Con in Indianapolis in August.
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".[5] (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.[2][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.[8]
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]
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.[24] In 2023, the program was awarded to four winners.[25]