The Zenobia Award is an award given to board games with a historical focus that awards designers from underrepresented groups in the industry, including games by women, people of color, and LGBT people. The award was first founded in 2020 by a number of industry experts including board game designer Cole Wehrle and Dr. Christienne Hinz of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, who is its director. It is named after Zenobia, a queen of the Palmyrene Empire who attempted to gain control of the Roman Empire.
Organisation
Relevant entries must be tabletop games which “tackle some historical subject - political, social, cultural, scientific, economic, military, or other”. Contestants must come from underrepresented sociopolitical, cultural and gender groups or feature one member of their design team from one of these groups, and designs must be themed after a period of human history or tackle a political, social, cultural, scientific, economic or military topic. They must not require roleplay or a referee, they must be analog, and they must have a play length at or below two hours.
Finalists are selected by a blue-ribbon panel of experts in the tabletop game industry, including academics, journalists, and tabletop influencers. These have included co-designer of Twilight Struggle Jason Matthews, COIN wargame series creator Volko Ruhnke, and Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile and Pax Pamir designer Cole Wehrle. The finalists are then assigned a mentor and given access to resources and tools to improve their work before the winners are chosen. Each awards, eight finalists are selected from which three games are given the award. At its first inception, winners of the award received up to $4,000 in funding as well as direct publisher mentorship on their prototype of the game. The second edition of the awards offered a $1,000 cash prize as well as the same amount as a travel grant to a convention of their choice, with runners up receiving a $500 prize.
The award runs in accordance with its Derby House Principles which dedicate it to promoting inclusion and diversity in wargaming, helping underrepresented people into positions of power, and reassessing and improving its own apparatus according to community concerns.
Impact
Multiple board games which competed in the first Zenobia awards have since been published, including Dutch Resistance: Orange Shall Overcome, Rising Waters, and Tindaya. As of November 2024, Molly House, Publish or Perish: Wiñay Kawsay, and Kartini: From Darkness To Light, all competitors, are also due to be published.
Winners and finalists
| ‡ | Indicates winners |
|---|
| Year | Game | Designer | Historical theme | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Tyranny of Blood ‡ | Akar Bharadvaj | Caste system in India (1700–1947) | |
| Winter Rabbit ‡ | Will Thompson | Cherokee economy and the Br'er Rabbit (early 16th century) | ||
| Wiñay Kawsay ‡ | Alison Collins | Machu Picchu (1911–2012) | ||
| Molly House | Jo Kelly | Molly houses in London (early 18th century) | ||
| From Darkness to Light | Sherria Ayuandini | Indonesian independence movement (late 1800s-early 1900s) | ||
| Liberation - Haiti | Damon Stone | Haitian Revolution (1789–1794) | ||
| Orange Shall Overcome! | Marcel Köhler | Nazi occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945) | ||
| The Season | Lauren Ino | Women in Regency era England (1811–1820) | ||
| 2024 | The Porters ‡ | Lucas Cockburn, Neco Cockburn, Alex Goss | Unionisation of Black porters on Canadian railways (20th century) | |
| Silencio | Luis Salas | Missing family members due to Mexican cartels | ||
| Melaka: the Forgotten Empire | Effendy Norzaman | Sultanate of Melaka | ||
| Aguirre | ||||
| House of Wisdom | ||||
| Obraje | ||||
| An Outstreched Hand | ||||
| The Pursuit of Aguinaldo | ||||
| Sabotage The Raj |
References
- ^ Carter, Chase (November 23, 2020). "A new historical tabletop award wants to spotlight and mentor underrepresented voices". Dicebreaker. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- "Who We Are". Zenobia Award. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- Carter, Chase (October 2, 2023). "Zenobia Award returns to highlight more underrepresented creators in historical tabletop design". Dicebreaker. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ Hall, Charlie (August 17, 2021). "8 historical board games, from diverse designers, that show great promise". Polygon. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ^ Didymus, Mike (November 18, 2024). "The Porters, a game about Black railway workers fighting to unionise, has triumphed in this year's Zenobia Award -". BoardGameWire. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
- "2021 Zenobia Award Winners". Zenobia Award. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- "Winners and Finalists". Zenobia Award. Retrieved November 19, 2024.