DAU Barcelona Awards 2026
The DAU Barcelona Awards are the festival’s official awards, recognising the most significant contributions to board game culture over the past year. To mark the 15th anniversary of DAU Barcelona, the awards are entering a new stage aimed at strengthening their transparency, diversity and international reach, while establishing themselves as a leading recognition in the field.
The awards put the people who help board game culture grow at the centre, recognising excellence, creativity, artistic quality, innovation and contributions to its development and promotion. With an international outlook, they also aim to support the development and visibility of talent connected to Catalonia, recognising board games as a contemporary form of cultural expression.
The 2026 edition will recognise the following categories:
- DAU Barcelona Award for Best Game Designer
- DAU Barcelona Award for Best Emerging Game Designer
- DAU Barcelona Award for Best Illustration
- DAU Barcelona Award for Best Game Culture Communication
- DAU Barcelona Award “A Lifetime Dedicated to Games”
Help us broaden the jury’s perspective
For the first time, we are opening the DAU Barcelona Awards to more perspectives. Anyone, whether an individual or an organisation, can suggest names they believe could be deserving of one of the 2026 DAU Barcelona Awards.
Suggestions are anonymous and will help the juries discover a diverse range of profiles, careers and contributions.
Until 20 September 2026.
*Suggestions are not official nominations. The selection of official nominations is the sole responsibility of the DAU Barcelona Awards juries.
How do the DAU Barcelona Awards work?
1. Open suggestions
1–20 September
Anyone, whether an individual or an organisation, can submit suggestions for the different categories. Suggestions are anonymous and are intended to broaden the juries’ perspective and help them discover a diverse range of profiles, careers and contributions.
A suggestion is not an official nomination.
2. Review
21–27 September
The DAU Barcelona Festival reviews the suggestions received and verifies that they meet the eligibility requirements established in the rules. The list of accepted and excluded suggestions is then published.
3. Nominations
28 September–9 October
Independent juries are appointed for each category. Each jury member may propose up to three nominations, drawing on the suggestions received or putting forward other profiles they consider relevant. The DAU Barcelona Festival verifies the eligibility of all nominations before the evaluation begins.
4. Evaluation
10–25 October
The juries individually assess the nominations according to the criteria established in the rules: excellence, originality and creativity, quality of execution, contribution to game culture, and impact and relevance. The scores determine the three finalists and the award recipient in each category.
5. DAU Barcelona Awards
13 November 2026 · 7 pm
The awards will be presented at the DAU Barcelona Awards Ceremony, held at SAT! Sant Andreu Teatre . A gathering to recognise talent, celebrate board game culture and reveal the 2026 award recipients.
