Introducing our Grace Hopper Award Recipient

Brenda Romero

 

The Grace Hopper award pays tribute to a STEM professional whose exceptional achievements and outstanding contributions have made a lasting impact on technology, society and their profession.

We are delighted to announce that this year, the title has been awarded to Brenda Romero.

 

 

Brenda is a BAFTA award-winning game designer, artist and Fulbright award recipient who entered the video game industry in 1981. As a designer, she has worked on 47 games and contributed to many seminal titles, including the Wizardry and Jagged Alliance series and titles in the Ghost Recon, Dungeons & Dragons and Def Jam franchises.

Away from the machine, her analog series of six games, The Mechanic is the Message, has drawn national and international acclaim, particularly Train and Siochán Leat, a game about her family’s history, which is presently housed in the National Museum of Play.

Most recently, she received the 2017 Development Legend award at the Develop: Brighton. That same year, she won a BAFTA Special Award for her contributions to the industry. In 2015, she won the coveted Ambassador’s Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards. In 2014, she received a Fulbright award to study Ireland’s game industry, academic and government policies. Romero co-owns Romero Games based in Galway.

 

 

Brenda and her family moved to Ireland in 2015. Her family has strong Irish ties, and originally come from Skibbereen and Mallow in County Cork.

We are very much looking forward to having Brenda join us in the RDS Concert Hall on November 22nd. Remember, this is the final week to nominate so if you have someone in mind you can nominate her now before it’s too late.