Jury chairman Harald Schrapers and Kinderspiel des Jahres chairman Christoph Schlewinski announced the nominees and other recommended titles during a live broadcast on Facebook, with these three titles being nominated for Spiel des Jahres 2020:
• My City, by Reiner Knizia from KOSMOS (video overview)
• Nova Luna, by Uwe Rosenberg and Corné van Moorsel from Edition Spielwiese (video overview)
• Pictures, by Daniela and Christian Stöhr from PD-Verlag (video overview)
Aside from these nominations, the SdJ jury recommended the following six titles: Color Brain, Draftosaurus, The Fox in the Forest, Kitchen Rush, Little Town, and Spicy.
Note that the Spiel des Jahres award is primarily aimed at family gamers, i.e., those who play games but aren't heavily into the gaming scene.
Nominations for the Kennerspiel des Jahres went to:
• Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale, by Jordy Adan from Thunderworks Games (and in Germany from Pegasus Spiele) (video overview)
• The Crew, by Thomas Sing and KOSMOS (video overview)
• The King's Dilemma, by Hjalmar Hach and Lorenzo Silva from Horrible Guild (and in Germany from HeidelBÄR Games) (video overview)
The SdJ jury recommended three other titles at the Kennerspiel level: Paladins of the West Kingdom, Res Arcana, and Underwater Cities. The winners of the Spiel and Kennerspiel des Jahres will be announced in Berlin, Germany on July 20, 2020.
The titles nominated for Kinderspiel des Jahres 2020 are:
• Hedgehog Roll, a.k.a. Speedy Roll, by Urtis Šulinskas and Lifestyle Boardgames (and in Germany from Piatnik) (video overview)
• Foto Fish, by Michael Kallauch and LOGIS (video overview)
• Wir sind die Roboter, by Reinhard Staupe and Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag
The Kinderspiel des Jahres jury, which differs from the SdJ/KedJ jury, also recommended seven other titles: Go Slow!, Hans im Glück, Magic School, Puzzle-Memo, Slide Quest, Zombie Kidz Evolution, and Zoo Run.
The winner will be announced on June 15, 2020, roughly one month prior to the winners of the other awards.