These persons/groups have received an Honorary Otto
1992: Mads Lunau
1993: Paul Hartvigson
1994: Troels Chr. Jakobsen
1995: Cool Fish Delivery
1996: Søren Parbæk
1997: Rollespilsmagasinet Fønix
1998: Kristoffer Apollo og Mette Finderup
1999: Not awarded
2000: Peter Bengtsen
2001: Sara Hald
2002: Morten Juul
2003: Natural Born Holmers
2004: Peter Brodersen
2005: Merlin P. Mann
2006: Malik Hyltoft
2007: Landsforeningen for Levende Rollespil (The Danish Roleplaying Organization)
2008: Brian Rasmussen
2009: Jesper Wøldiche
2010: Vi Åker Jeep
2011: Lars Andreasen
2012: Klaus Meier Olsen & Kristoffer Rudkjær
2013: Jesper Heebøll Arbjørn
2014: DirtBusters
2015: Claus Raasted
2016: Simon James Pettit
2017: René Bokær Pedersen
2018: Peter Lind
2019: Joan Zenia Juhl Hansen
2020: Not awarded
2021: Andreas Ravn Skovse
2022: Alex K. Uth
2023: Maya Krone & Mette Finderup
About the Honorary Otto
Every year at Fastaval, an honorary award is presented to a special person or group who has made a special contribution to Fastaval. The Honorary Award is a love award given to people who have helped develop, work hard and push back to make Fastaval and the gaming community what it is today.
Alea - the association behind Fastaval - awards the Honorary Otto, and it is a tradition that Alea asks the previous year's winner to present the award. It is also traditional for this person to assemble a jury and listen to what the Fastaval community thinks. However, there are no set criteria for how to earn a nomination or award. The Honorary Otto is a dynamic entity that is adapted by the jury of the year.
Who do YOU think?
This year's jury chooses to follow tradition. To get a broader overview of the Fastaval community than we have, we want to hear from all of you who also love Fastaval: Who do YOU think deserves an extraordinary pat on the back?
Send us your suggestion for a nomination through the online form, which will be published here on the website and on Fastaval's social media in the months leading up to Fastaval. The nominations are used as inspiration and guidelines. Ultimately, it is the Honorary Otto jury that decides who is officially nominated for and receives the Honorary Otto, but we appreciate each and every one of your nominations.
How the Honorary Otto is awarded
The Honorary Otto is given on Saturday during Fastaval at an open for all reception. Here you can have a glass of bubbles and congratulate the nominees. The Honorary Otto will also be awarded from the stage during the Otto Party, where the winner will be allowed to give a speech.
This year's Honoraryotto jury at Fastaval 2024
Head of the jury
Maya Krone (she/her)
Maya was a bystander when she first met a group of nerds in a D&D campaign in the early nineties. Since then, she's taken revenge in a big way, taking on everything from rules-heavy campaign roleplaying to semi-live, live and Blackbox.
In 2000 she attended Fastaval for the first time, and in 2005 she and Ryan Rohde Hougaard won an Otto for their first role-playing game, Persona. Since then, she has co-founded the writers' collective Tøser på tur and has been an Otto judge, pingvintante at Fastaval Junior and safety host.
In recent years, board gaming has become a top favorite geek activity, and she still regrets that Mette Finderup sold "The Wilson Wolfe Affair" before they could complete it.
Mette Finderup (she/her)
Mette Finderup had her first organizer position at Fastaval in 1992, and over the years she has been around most corners of the congress. From party organizer to breakfast manager, game manager, general and information officer.
Mette has been on the board of Alea several times. She has a persistent drive for Fastaval to continue to be a place where all genders, ages, brain types and social strata can meet and play, laugh, cry and be curious together and on an equal footing. This year, she is participating in the scenario competition with 'The Woman Who Broke into a Thousand Pieces'.
When Mette is not doing Fastaval, she makes a living from her writing, plays board games (she thinks 'Village' is the best game in the world), pets her bull terrier and runs a Michelin-level restaurant for the garden's wild birds.
Mathias Oliver Christensen (they/them)
Since they were teenagers, Mathias Christensen has been active in a number of volunteer environments, including Fastaval, Fladlandssagaen, Østerskov Efterskole and in kitchens for numerous role-playing events. Mathias has focused on being a part of Kaffekroen since its inception - and you can also meet them there this year.
Mathias works at Østerskov Efterskole creating events, stirring pots and helping to teach live role-playing game theory. In their spare time, they love to design and play tabletop role-playing games, read fantasy books, watch one series after another, and immerse themselves in academic topics such as culture, diversity and pedagogy.
Joe Ratzer (they/them)
Joe Kroll Ratzer was born into the roleplaying and Fastaval tradition with two parents who are dedicated roleplayers. Joe was part of Fastaval Junior when it was first born in 2015 and has since been at the convention as a regular attendee and as part of the Coffeehouse and Info. At Fastaval, they love to play comedies and light role-playing games, but also love a good existentialist scenario.
Outside of Fastaval, they have attended Østerskov Efterskole for 2 years, and this has greatly contributed to shaping the communities they are part of today. In everyday life, they spend their free time doing cosplay, drawing and other creative projects.
Nicolai Strøm Steffensen (he/him)
Nicolai has been a regular participant at Fastaval for many years, starting as a student at Østerskov. Back then, he helped with set-up and the youth lounge. He has always loved acting and played a number of Fastaval scenarios - even before he knew the congress existed. It has to be social realism that makes you feel a knot in your stomach and brings a tear to your eye.
In 2019, he took the plunge and wrote his first scenario for Fastaval. Since then, he has been part of the scenario jury for Ottoen three times from 2020 to 2022. Outside Fastaval, Nicolai has been designing Blackbox scenarios since 2012, and he is currently the technical manager of the Copenhagen Blackbox association Gnist.
Mads Havshøj (he/him)
Mads started playing Dragons & Demons and HeroQuest in the mid-90s. Since 2004, he has been an organizer at Fastaval almost every year, and he has been involved in several different areas of responsibility.
Mads is an avid board game player and has previously been both designer, responsible and judge on the board game side of Fastaval. He is also the one who produces the golden Ottos that are handed out at Fastaval.
Alongside Fastaval, Mads is often the organizer of several live role-playing games. But there will definitely be room to run a scenario or two at Fastaval itself and one or two as a player this year.
Be considered as a jury member at Fastaval
Every year, the Head of Jury set their team of co-jury members for this year's juries. It's entirely up to the current Head of Jury to set their team, but they are always open to suggestions and input. Maybe it's you they're looking for?
Send an email with your name and whether you are interested in being in the board game jury, scenario jury or a member of the Honorary Otto committee, and Alea will compile a list that we will share with the Head of Jury´s as soon as they are appointed.
You can't expect to hear anything from the Head of Juries, but they may reach out to find out more or invite you to join. Alea updates the list regularly, so you only need to send an email with your name once, or write to us if you want to be taken off the list again.
Write to alea@fastaval.dk with your name and your desire for a jury position and possibly a few keywords about what you can offer as a jury member.
We look forward to hear from you!
- Alea's board (the association behind Fastaval)
