By Ronald Gordon

As we prepare for our 15th Anniversary, we’re humbled to realize that we’ve had a fantastic run of a decade and a half since our first New York Game Awards. Since then, the Critics Circle has grown from a small writer’s group into a thriving nonprofit hub for creativity and connection within the gaming and education community.

But the Circle isn’t the only thing that’s grown in these years. 

Dash, the then-newborn son of Dan Ackerman and Libe Goad-Ackerman, Dash, made a surprising appearance at the 1st New York Game Awards back in 2012. At the unveiling of the Manhattan Award for Most NY-Centric game, Dash sat happily in Dan’s arms, his eyes scanning the passionate crowd who came to celebrate games. He didn’t react to the crowd at all, likely as a result of being born in NYC. We’re tough here. And it appeared Dash already liked games. As Dan said, “He already likes watching his mother play Skyrim for hours on end.” (At the end of the night, Skyrim was our first Game of the Year winner, and the Award was a simple, gold spray-painted Atari joystick bought used on eBay. It had part of a Big Apple keychain glued on.)

It’s times like this that we can’t help but be ecstatic to host the next Awards show, prepping each and every event thoroughly, all to celebrate 2025’s stellar games and our nonprofit’s work with young people, games and writing.

Of course, to prepare for the next event we at the Circle are already super busy as we create the 15th Annual New York Game Awards. We have so many surprises for you. We hope to see as many people as we can fit in SVA Theatre come January 2026!