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The time has come: Lucca Crea and the Jury of the Board Game Designer of the Year Awardhave revealed the 5 finalists of the 2024 prize. The winner will be announced during the awards ceremony at the Lucca Comics and Games festival. The prize is awarded annually to an inventor who is still active and prolific in the board game market, according to the criteria detailed in the rules that can be found on the competition website. The Jury assesses the comprehensive production of all games published (nationally and internationally) by each designer in the two years before the current edition and up to the announcement of the opening of the award. The games localization is irrelevant for the purposes of the award.

Among the 7 nominees, the finalists of the Board Game Designer of the Year Award are listed below, in alphabetical order.

• Rob Daviau is one of the most influential names in today's board game industry, due to his ability to look beyond conventional models, successfully exploring innovative game paradigms. He is the father of the legacy game system, that has had a disruptive influence on the industry in the past decade, and that is still widely used and applied to this day. Significant games in the reporting period: Unmatched [various] (2022); Stranger Things: Upside Down (2023); Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West (2023).
• Elizabeth Hargrave is an activist for minorities in the world of tabletop gaming. Strongly inspired by a love of nature, she has always been determined in promoting innovative themes, apparently far removed from the traditional market-oriented patterns, yet effective as well as scientifically sound. Her award-winning game Wingspan is still being expanded by author-produced content and additions. Significant games in the period of reference: Wingspan Asia (2022) [exp]; The Fox Experiment (2023).
• Adam Kwapiński is notable for his ability to create games from iconic elements of pop culture, from cinema to video games. His creations absorb and rework these themes, preserving the settings and emotions, but with uncompromisingly solid game mechanics. He is also remarkable for is his versatility, spanning different genres and mechanics in his different creations. Significant games in the reference period: Nemesis: Lockdown (2022) [exp]; Frostpunk: The Board Game (2022); Terracotta Army (2022); Lords of Ragnarok (2023).
• Simone Luciani is renowned for his decade-long career as an inventor of highly complex games achieving undisputed success. Luciani has demonstrated maturity and continuity of inspiration, and is living a period of extraordinary productivity. His games are often the result of successful collaborations with other authors, they are diverse in terms of settings and mechanics, and frequently reach levels of uncontested quality. Significant games in the reference period: Tiletum (2022); Darwin's Journey (2023); Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods (2023); Sea Dragons (2023); Rats of Wistar (2023); Nucleum (2023); High Season: Grand Hotel Roll & Write (2023).
• Luc Rémond has mastered the ability to eliminate any excess from his creation process, distilling a type of game design that speaks to the players' core needs, capturing the emotional intensity of gaming. With few but skilful touches, Rémond was able to recreate dynamics of pleasant tension that fitted well within the setting of his game; thanks to this feature as well as to the scalability of the scenarios, the game achieved explosive worldwide popularity in just a few months. Significant games in the reporting period: Sky Team (2023).

The Board Game Designer of the Year award

The competition for the Board Game Designer of the Year award, founded in 2023 and organized by Lucca Crea, was created with the aim of rewarding the creative excellence of Italian and international game inventors.

The members of the Jury are chosen by Lucca Crea among the professionals and scholars who participate or have actively participated in awards dedicated to board games and in the SAZ Association. For this 2024 edition of the Board Game Designer of the Year Award, the Jury panel is composed as follows: Fabio Cambiaghi (President of the Jury), Luca Borsa, Paolo Cupola, Alessio Lana and Silvio Negri Clementi.

The jurors evaluate the candidates based on this three broad criteria of judgement:

• Originality and innovation: creative talent and competence in generating new ideas, as well as the ability to rework the state of the art in a personal, original and critical way, in order to create innovative and unique games.  In addition, the ability to identify themes that are consistent with the game mechanisms is considered, as well as the cultural and historical accuracy of the setting, when applicable.
• Sensitivity and timeliness: interpreting the players' desires, proposing games that are particularly suited to the current market trends, and the ability to produce successful games that become quickly popular both within the industry and with the wider market.
• Productivity and eclecticism: the ability to be prolific and multi-faceted. The amount of successful and acclaimed games published during the contest period, and the ability to successfully engage in diverse styles of play. In addition, collaborating and creating synergies with other authors is valued.

The Jury, together with the organizer, Lucca Crea, congratulates the finalists and invites all fans to visit Lucca Comics & Games 2024 and discover the winner of the Board Game Designer of the Year 2024.