About our scholarship benefactors and honorees

Judee Blohm was the backbone of NASAGA until her passing inJuly of 2013. She was long-time Editor of SIMAGES as well as Editor and facilitator of the NASAGA Training Activity book. She was an inspiration, a mentor, and a very creative person. The Judee Blohm award honors her life and dedication by providing assistance in her name to those who share her love of games and learning.

Richard Powers was a novelist, playwright, mime performer, professor, wide-ranging educator, and game designer. He was introduced to NASAGA simulation and gaming in 1975, when he stepped into a crowded elevator and was drawn into learning how to play a numbers game. Upon his passing March 2014, a fund was created in his honor and now provides funds to those who share his interest in simulation and gaming in the fields of social justice and/or sustainability.

The NASAGA Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship was established in 2020 to open any actual or perceived gates in our community for people living in North America with marginalized identities. This scholarship covers conference registration fees for the recipients.

At NASAGA, fairness and equity are key values. In our games, we recognize the importance of the system engine underlying the game environment. A character may have highly beneficial stats in certain attributes, but if the environment is set up against them to constantly sap their stamina based on a stat they’re not specced for, game play will be devastatingly unfair. We realize that our brothers and sisters with marginalized identities are facing this very challenge every day through systemic discrimination and oppression. We are uniting to focus our support on those who face the deepest hits to their stamina. We welcome increased diversity in our community and want to specifically support and encourage Diversity and Inclusion in our educational gaming world.