All Recipients
Lyra Recipients
Daisy Ein
Co-owner, Super Retro Duck
Daisy Ein is the co-owner and founder of Super Retro Duck. A jack-of-all trades, Daisy leads as a visual artist, musician, and game developer. Super Retro Duck’s first game is an irresistibly charming title called Tiny Bird Garden.
Latoya Peterson
Co-founder, Glow Up Games
Latoya Peterson is the co-founder and chief of experience at Glow Up Games. Before partnering with HBO’s Insecure to make a game, Latoya was an award winning race and culture writer for national outlets like the New York Times, NPR, Jezebel, and Kotaku.
Catt Small
Co-founder, Brooklyn Gamery
Catt Small is a product designer and game maker. Her experience in design has led her to work for major companies like Etsy, SoundCloud, and Nasdaq. Catt us is also co-founder of the game development studio Brooklyn Gamery and makes games that tell the awkward, but honest stories behind interpersonal relationships.
Geneva Heyward
Creator of Skate and Date
Geneva “Gensuta” Heyward is a game developer and 2D artist. Gen burst onto the game development scene by shipping a whopping seven games before graduating college. Their latest game, Skate and Date recently tied up a successful crowdfunding campaign and captivated us with its vibrant aesthetic.
Jules Porter
Founder, Seraph 7 Studios
Jules Porter is part lawyer, part video game developer. As founder of Seraph 7 Studios, Jules creates meaningful and fun games. Seraph 7 Studios is currently developing its first game, Ultimate Elder Battle Royale.
Vela Recipients
Saffron Bolduc-Chiong
Art Director, Mighty Yell
Saffron Bolduc-Chiong is a Canadian artist and game developer based in Toronto. She has experience as an artist for video games, comics, illustration, and 2D/3D asset creation.
Bahiyya Khan
Game Designer, Writer and Filmmaker
Bahiyya Khan is a multiple award-winning South African game designer, writer, and filmmaker. Khan is most notably known for her IGF-winning FMV game, after HOURS, but more importantly, is the biggest My Chemical Romance fan.
Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou
Game Developer and Pixel Artist
Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou is a Greek illustrator, pixel artist, and game artist.
Star (Slide20XX)
Composer | Slide20XX, Games Without Words
Star “Power,” (aka, Slide20XX) is a composer who decided to write music for video games at the age of 13 and hasn’t stopped since. Their work has appeared in Against Gravity’s VR title “Rec Room,” a Princeton affiliated massively multiplayer neuroscience game named “EyeWire,” and crowd-controlled music-based video games designed and shown at the Red Bull Music Academy in Madrid, Spain and MIT’s festival of arts and technology, Hacking Arts. Most recently, they produced the soundtrack for Calico, a game about magical girls running a cat cafe, and music for a pair of anti-racism PSAs created by Cartoon Network series, Steven Universe. They also work as composer, sound designer, and creative director for their game company, Games Without Words.
Nareice Wint
Game Director & Art Director, Miami Avalon
Nareice Wint is the Game Director at Miami Avalon; their first title – Pandora: Chains of Chaos – released in 2020, development has now started on their new title: Ascend. Nareice was listed in MCVs “30 Under 30 (2020)” and named one of “GamesInudstry.biz’s 100 most influential women” in games.
Francesca Carletto-Leon
Founder & Game Developer at Compact
Francesca Carletto-Leon is an award winning game designer and educator whose work encompasses digital, tabletop, and alternative controller style projects. She holds an MFA in Game Design from New York University.
Emma Kidwell
Writer, Firaxis
Emma Kidwell is a writer and narrative designer who’s work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian, Game Developers of Color Expo, and Wordplay. Kidwell was listed as one of Forbes 30 under 30 for games in 2021 and has been profiled by the New York Times.
Jessinia Saunders
Founder at Jellyfish Parade
Jessinia Saunders is creating games by weaving dreams with written wefts. She’s a writer who specializes in romance and the creator of Celestia, PAIRS, and many more through her studio Jellyfish Parade.
Catherine Unger
Art Director
Catherine Unger is an Art Director / Illustrator based in the sunny town of London. She has spent the last 11+ years making art for a number of award winning games and has been previously named BAFTA Breakthrough, Ensemble and Apple’s Ones to Watch.
Shandiin Woodward
Co-Founder & Art Director at Subliminal
Shandiin is a Diné game developer and multidisciplinary designer from Albuquerque, NM. She Co-Founded Subliminal, where she spearheads her studio’s projects and crafts colorful worlds and characters. She has 10+ years experience in her artistic career and specializes in stylized game art and multimedia design.
