ENNIE Awards
| ENNIES | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Best role-playing games of previous year |
| Country | United Kingdom & United States |
| Presented by | Gen Con |
| Formerly called | ENnie Awards |
| First awarded | 2001 |
| Website | ennie-awards |
The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards)[1][2] are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World in partnership with Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D Third Edition News.[3] The ceremony has been hosted at Gen Con in Indianapolis since 2002.[2] Since 2018, EN World is no longer associated with the awards.
The ENNIES comprise two rounds. In the first round, publishers submit their products for nomination. Entries are judged by five democratically elected judges. The nominated products are voted on by the public in the second round. Winners of the annual awards are then announced at a ceremony at Gen Con.
History[edit]
The award ceremony initially focused on the d20 System products and publishers. It has come to include "all games, supplements, and peripheral enterprises".[4] Since 2002, the awards have been announced at a live ceremony at Gen Con. It is now considered a "signature part" of the convention.[4] Author George R. R. Martin referred to the ENNIE Awards as "the most prestigious honors in role-playing" in 2010.[5]
The nominees are chosen by a panel of judges, and the winners are voted on by the public and presented at an award show done in collaboration between Gen Con and EN World.[6]
In 2007, the ENNIES were sponsored by the corporation Your Games Now, followed by Avatar Art in 2008. In 2010, 2011, and 2012, they were sponsored by both Indie Press Revolution and DriveThruRPG. From 2013 to 2016, they were sponsored by DriveThruRPG alone. In 2015, Campaign Coins made the medals as a sponsorship; Lone Wolf Development became a sponsor in 2017. The awards were run and owned by Morrissey until 2019.[7]
In 2015, the awards disqualified the unofficially licensed Mass Effect RPG for copyright violations.[8]
In 2020, Massif Press withdrew its RPG Lancer from the competition over a 2017 controversy, where a game module for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess system titled Blood in the Chocolate received a Gold award in the Adventure category, despite being widely described as 'offensive', 'particularly icky', and 'simply ridiculous' by press, industry members and the publisher itself.[9][10] Charlie Hall commented for Polygon in 2020:[11]
The Ennies are unique among gaming awards. Judges are volunteers, who follow a strict set of ethical guidelines. Chief among them is the vow not to have any professional relationship with any RPG publisher in the lead up to the awards. They help ensure that the Ennies aren’t just a popularity contest by winnowing down the dozens upon dozens of submissions to only the very best. Once the short list has been created, voting on the final winners is open to all.
Winners by year[edit]
The categories change yearly, depending on the nominations.
- 2001 ENnie Award winners
- 2002 ENnie Award winners
- 2003 ENnie Award winners
- 2004 ENnie Award winners
- 2005 ENnie Award winners
- 2006 ENnie Award winners
- 2007 ENnie Award winners
- 2008 ENnie Award winners
- 2009 ENnie Award winners
- 2010 ENnie Award winners
- 2011 ENnie Award winners
- 2012 ENnie Award winners
- 2013 ENnie Award winners
- 2014 ENnie Award winners
- 2015 ENnie Award winners
- 2016 ENnie Award winners
- 2017 ENnie Award winners
- 2018 ENnie Award winners
- 2019 ENnie Award winners
- 2020 ENnie Award winners
- 2021 ENnie Award winners
- 2022 ENNIE Award winners
- 2023 ENNIE Award winners
Current categories[edit]
Current categories as of 2023:
- Judge's Spotlight Winners
- Best Adventures
- Best Aid/Acessory - Digital
- Best Aid/Acessory - Non-Digital
- Best Art, Cover
- Best Art, Interior
- Best Cartography
- Best Electronic Book
- Best Family Game/Product
- Best Free Game/Product
- Best Layout and Design
- Best Monster/Adversary
- Best Online Content
- Best Organized Play
- Best Podcast
- Best Production Values
- Best RPG Related Product
- Best Rules
- Best Setting
- Best Supplement
- Best Writing
- Product of the Year
Category Winners[edit]
The ENNIE Awards bestow a Gold Winner and a Silver Winner for 1st and 2nd place winners, respectively.
Product of the Year[edit]
This category was first introduced in 2007 as Best Product and changed to Product of the Year in subsequent years.
2000s[edit]
2010s[edit]
2020s[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "ENnie Awards Present the Best in Tabletop Role-Playing". Wired. August 20, 2009. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- ^ a b Hall, Charlie (2017-07-05). "The best tabletop RPGs of 2017". Polygon. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
- ^ "About – ENNIE Awards". Retrieved 2022-03-01.
- ^ a b Rome, Ben H. (2013). Games' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Players, Pawns, and Power-Ups. Chris Hussey. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books. p. 278. ISBN 978-1-59797-724-1. OCLC 855019926.
- ^ "22 | July | 2010 | Not a Blog".
- ^ "Annual ENnie Awards Honor Best of Roleplaying Games". 20 August 2014.
- ^ "ENnies Leadership Change Announcement". ENnie Awards. 2019-02-15. Archived from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
- ^ "Tabletop RPG Award Nominates Copyright Infringing Game For Multiple Awards(UPDATE)". Bleeding Cool News And Rumors. Bleeding Cool. 29 June 2015.
- ^ "RPG: Lancer Withdraws From ENnies, Protesting Controversial Title Receiving Award". Bell of Lost Souls. 2 July 2020.
- ^ "ENnies 2020 nominee will refuse any awards until organisers address 2017 controversy". Geek Native. 30 June 2020.
- ^ Hall, Charlie (2020-06-30). "2020's best tabletop RPGs (so far), as chosen by fans". Polygon. Retrieved 2022-02-11.