CESA has a new category for this year's Japan Game Awards. Joining such categories as Game of the Year and Future Game of the Year, the organization will be be selecting one recipient of a "Game Designers Award."

That name might suggest that a game designer will be selected for design work on a game. Actually, the award's name is in reference to the people selecting the recipient. Some of the biggest game designers Japanese gaming will be selecting the game that they feel left most left a mark on gaming history over the past year.

The judging panel will be headed by Sora's Masahiro Sakurai, who's known for his work on Smash Bros. and Kirby. He'll be joined by the following allstar group:

• Fumito Ueda (Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Hideki Kamiya (Platinum Games)
• Shuu Takumi (Capcom)
• Shinji Mikami (Tango)
• Jin Fujisawa (Square Enix)
• Jiro Ishii (Level-5)
• Kazutoshi Ida (Grasshopper Manufacturer)
• Masayoshi Kikuchi (Sega)
• Keiichiro Sotoyama (Sony Computer Entertainment)
• Hifumi Kouno (Nude Maker)

This group make their selection from the consumer games that were released to Japan between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010. They'll be selecting just one game, to be announced during the Game of the Year awards segment of the Japan Game Awards, set to be held on September 16 at the Tokyo Game Show.

There's one catch to this award. Games that members of the panel have worked on are not eligible.