The award was first founded in 2020 by a number of industry experts including board game designer Cole Wehrle and Dr. Christienne Hinz of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, who is its director.
[3] Relevant entries must be tabletop games which “tackle some historical subject - political, social, cultural, scientific, economic, military, or other”.
[1] Contestants must come from underrepresented sociopolitical, cultural and gender groups or feature one member of their design team from one of these groups, and designs must be themed after a period of human history or tackle a political, social, cultural, scientific, economic or military topic.
These have included co-designer of Twilight Struggle Jason Matthews, COIN wargame series creator Volko Ruhnke, and Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile and Pax Pamir designer Cole Wehrle.
[1] Multiple board games which competed in the first Zenobia awards have since been published, including Dutch Resistance: Orange Shall Overcome, Rising Waters, and Tindaya.