FINALISTS FOR THE 2026
DIANA JONES EMERGING DESIGNER PROGRAM

The Diana Jones Award Committee is pleased to announce our 2026 Emerging Designer Program finalists. Congratulations to everyone! Our winners will be announced soon.

Glaiza Champion

Website:
classicaladventuresfor.one

Games:
classicaladventuresfor.one/games

Glaiza (siya/them) is a Filipino-American third culture kid with cultural experiences from Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, and Korea. They are a game designer, writer, performer, podcaster, and variety streamer that’s made their home in tabletop roleplaying games. Glaiza’s games are Beef, Missing Month, and Meet Your GelCub. Their passion is in storytelling—not just the big world impacting stories, but the smaller intimate ones as well. Find all Glaiza does over at classicaladventuresfor.one.

Elijah Djan

Social:
Fintr.io

Games:
FinMaster
The Royal Weaver

Elijah Djan is the co-founder and CEO of Fintr, a South African financial education company on a mission to build a generation of financially capable young people. In addition to their financial literacy games, Elijah is developing several new titles, notably including The Royal Kente Weaver, a tile-laying game rooted in the Adinkra symbols of his Ghanaian heritage. Check out Fintr at fintr.io.

Kodi Gonzaga

Website:
kodigonzaga.com

Games:
Misfits and Mayhem
Down the Road Through the End of the World

Kodi (they/them) is a TTRPG designer based in Los Angeles, CA who began designing their first, slight disaster of a game in 2018. They’ve since created multiple games, including: Extra Ordinary, Misfits & Mayhem SRD, Down the Road Through the End of the World, Voxinn: A Firebrands Hack, and In This Echoing World. Kodi is also a creative writer, actual play performer, Big Bad Con POC Scholar, former IGDN convention coordinator, and cat lover. Learn more about Kodi’s work at kodigonzaga.com.

Annabel Lee Journey

Social:
BoardGameGeek

Games:
Cretaceous Rails
Screentop.gg

Annabel (Ann) Lee Rhiannon Journey teaches Board Game Design at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Her latest design, Cretaceous Rails, features an innovative dual-action worker placement system, route building, tableau building, and resource management. Keep up with Annabel on BoardGameGeek.com

Gene Koo

Social:
Itch.io

Games:
The Bonsai Diary
Naptime Sweet Phone
Never Left Home
ColorJam

Gene Koo is a Chinese/Taiwanese-American tabletop game designer. He’s currently working on Be Tween, a game about navigating the difficult social and emotional challenges of becoming a teenager, and The Dumpster Heist, a storytelling co-design with Phil Gross aimed at brand new RPG players. Peruse Gene’s clever micro RPGs and journaling games at stickydoodler.itch.io.

J Strautman

Website:
yesnogoodbye.ca

Social:
Bluesky
Instagram

J Strautman (they/them), a.k.a. Yes No Goodbye, is a Toronto-based RPG designer, professional musician, and award-winning podcaster. They’ve released two zine-sized games: Contact and Insatiable Cravings, both GMless and monstrous leaning; and in 2025 co-released A Fool’s Errand under Planet Arcana Games. They tour the world as a professional bass player, and co-hosted, scored, and edited Planet Arcana, a tarot-infused science fantasy actual play. Keep up with J’s work at yesnogoodbye.ca.

Connie Vogelmann

Social:
Bluesky
BoardGameGeek

Games:
Wyrmspan
Apiary

Connie Vogelmann designs games with approachable themes and streamlined rulesets that support strategic depth. Her debut game, Apiary (2023) earned a devoted following due to its quirky theme, positive player interaction, and rich strategic pathways. Her follow-up, Wyrmspan (2024), expanded the Wingspan franchise to new audiences. Find Connie and her amazing work at @connievdc.bsky.social.

SPONSORS

We’d like to thank the program’s key sponsor for this year, Gen Con LLC.

Our other sponsors & volunteers for the Emerging Designer Program include:

This year’s prize sponsors are:

This program of the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming amplifies the voices of up-and-coming hobby game designers, with a focus on creators from marginalized communities, by featuring them during an expenses-paid trip to Gen Con. Its inaugural year was 2021, when Jeeyon Shim was our first Diana Jones Emerging Designer.

For more information about our previous winners and finalists, see our past-year Emerging Designer pages: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

CONTACTS

Questions? Please reach out to the program’s coordinators at edp@dianajonesaward.org. To contact the Diana Jones Award committee, email committee@dianajonesaward.org.