Meet the judges for the Tabletop Awards 2022
19 names from across the industry.
With the shortlist of finalists for the first Tabletop Awards announced, it’s time to reveal who is deciding the winners!
The panel of judges for the Tabletop Awards 2022 is made up of some of the tabletop gaming industry’s greatest current creatives. Besides the Dicebreaker team, the judging panel features a variety of brilliant board game and tabletop RPG designers, as well as talented artists, writers, journalists and creators.
Every member of the jury will be choosing their favourite frontrunner in each category – Best Board Game, Best Roleplaying Game, Best Ongoing Card Game, Designer of the Year, Publisher of the Year, Rising Star: Designer and Rising Star: Publisher - before the grand awards ceremony takes place live on stage on Friday 2nd December, the first day of the PAX Unplugged 2022 convention. (Disclaimer: PAX Unplugged is organised and run by Reedpop, the company that owns Dicebreaker.)
To give you an idea of who, exactly, is going to be voting for the Tabletop Awards 2022, here is a summary of the judging panel: who they are and what they do.
The Dicebreaker team
Founded in 2019, Dicebreaker is a website and YouTube channel for everything tabletop gaming. Featuring editor-in-chief Matt Jarvis, senior staff writer Alex Meehan, head of video Michael ‘Wheels’ Whelan, video producer Liv Kennedy, junior video producer Maddie Cullen and freelance news reporter Chase Carter, Dicebreaker has been covering board games, tabletop RPGs, trading card games and miniatures games for the past three years.
Anna Blackwell
Founder of Blackwell Games, Anna Blackwell is a tabletop roleplaying game designer and writer who specialises in creating solo RPG experiences. Blackwell Games has produced a collection of tabletop RPGs including the map-making game Delve, a solo journalling game about being a witch called Apothecaria and Tooth & Claw, a zoological book about mythical creatures.
Caelyn Ellis
Caelyn is a freelance journalist who has been enjoying tabletop games of all kinds for far longer than she’d like to admit. She lives in a small hut in Yorkshire constructed from discarded plastic miniature sprues, where she reads more RPGs than she’ll ever have time to run.
Dan Jolin
Dan Jolin is the co-founder and editor of Senet, an independent print magazine about the craft, creativity and community of board gaming. As editor, he has been shortlisted for a BSME award two years running. He also writes for Tabletop Gaming, Empire, Screen International and Time Out, among other publications, and regularly appears on the Empire podcast.
Emma Partlow
Emma is a content editor for TCGplayer and freelance writer who loves helping players dive into games of all kinds. You can find Emma on Twitter, where she discusses Magic: The Gathering cards, accidentally drinking paint water or referencing The Simpsons.
Gabe Hicks
Gabe Hicks is a tabletop designer and games master for Dimension 20, the Dungeons & Dragons actual play show. Earlier this year, Hicks launched a Kickstarter campaign for their own guide to being a GM called The Session Zero System, which is designed to help GMs and players ease themselves into new campaigns.
Isaac Vega
Isaac is a co-owner of Rose Gauntlet Entertainment and has been designing board games for over 10 years. Isaac appreciates the impact games can have on others and hopes Rose Gauntlet will leave a lasting positive impact on the gaming community. Follow @IsaacOnEarth and @rosegauntlet on all social platforms.
Jay Dragon
Jay Dragon is a queer disabled game designer and editorial director of Possum Creek Games. You might know Jay from the award-winning RPG Wanderhome, Sleepaway, or as part of the team for Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast. Jay writes games about community, liminality and the magic of the mundane. You can find Jay on Twitter @jdragsky, on Itch.io or check out the Possum Creek website.
Kwanchai Moriya
Kwanchai Moriya is an illustrator and painter, born in New York and grew up in Chicago. He completed his education with a degree in History from the University of California and a degree in Illustration from the Art Center College of Design. An avid tabletop gamer, he has a passion for making vibrant illustrations, and has worked on over a hundred board, card and roleplaying games, including the Dinosaur Island series, Cryptid, Catacombs, Bosk, Under Falling Skies, Flip Ships and many more.
Lindsey Rode
Lindsey is a co-owner of Rose Gauntlet Entertainment and has written and designed for popular board and roleplaying games. Lindsey has a passion for storytelling and loves crafting the vibrant worlds of Rose Gauntlet. She hopes gamers gain new perspectives through her stories and be inspired to tell their own. Follow @RacconRode and @rosegauntlet on all social platforms.
Matt Thrower
Matt is a tabletop games writer who's been covering gaming press for 15 years and playing them for as long as he can remember. His work has appeared on IGN, GamesRadar, The Guardian and many other outlets, and he's authored and co-authored three books on gaming.
PleasantKenobi
Vince, also known as PleasantKenobi on the internet, is a card and tabletop gaming enthusiast and content creator – his primary focus being Magic: The Gathering. He provides commentary and consumer advocacy within the hobby space on his YouTube channel, as well as continuing to be outspoken on Twitter.
Sen-Foong Lim
A board game and tabletop RPG designer who has developed a name for himself in the industry by co-creating titles such as party games like Junk Art and Dungeons & Dragons: Rock, Paper, Wizard, as well as Belfort, Akrotiri and Mind MGMT: The Psychic Espionage “Game”. Sen-Foong Lim has also co-designed roleplaying games such as Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall.
Sharang Biswas
Sharang Biswas is a New York-based game designer, artist, and writer. He worked on board games including Mad Science Foundation, Holi: Festival of Colors, & Sea of Legends, as well as tabletop RPGs including Avatar: Legends, Spire: The City Must Fall and Jiangshi: Blood on the Banquet Hall. As an independent game designer, Sharang has won IndieCade and IGDN awards, as well as showcased games at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, and the Toronto Reference Library. He has taught game design at Dartmouth, NYU Game Centre, & Parsons School of Design, among other institutions. You can find him on Twitter @SharangBiswas, and on Itch.io.