Earlier this month, the winners of this year’s DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS were announced. Now it’s time for fan filmmakers to submit their work for the other major award competition dedicated exclusively to productions judged by their peers—the annual SHOWRUNNER AWARDS.
Unlike the Directors Choice Awards, which are open to fan films from any genre, the Showrunner Awards focus EXCLUSIVELY on Star Trek fan films…allowing our little niche of a niche of a niche to shine as well as providing a friendly venue for Star Trek fan filmmakers to compete directly against each other.
As the name implies, the judging panel for the Showrunner Awards is made up of a dozen volunteer fan film showrunners, and I’ll spotlight them in an upcoming blog. Another unique aspect of the Showrunner Awards is that each of our nearly two-dozen categories recognizes THREE winners, with the top film in that category earning an Admiral Award, the second-place finisher receiving a Captain Award, and the third highest judged film winning a Commander Award. Each award is personalized for that fan film and sent to the entrant as a digital printable certificate.
A final element that distinguishes the Showrunner Awards is that the eligibility window for submission is more than just a single year. Last go-around, we reduced that window from five years down to three. So this time, any Star Trek fan film released between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025 is eligible to be entered. This allows for a fan film that may not have won in a previous year (because of strong competition) additional chances to earn an award—although no film is allowed to win twice in the same category. Also, the multi-year window allows a fan filmmaker who wasn’t previously aware of the Showrunner Awards to enter a slightly older project rather than missing out completely.
As always, the cost is $10 per entry plus $1 for each category beyond Best Fan Film that the submitter wishes to enter—things like Best Director, Best Actor/Actress, Best VFX, Best Music, etc.
The submission period is open from today through May 31, 2025. After that, judges will have until the middle of August to view and vote for their top five fan films in each category, with the most points going to each judge’s top choices. (A showrunner judge is not allowed to vote for any of their own fan films in any of their top three slots.) Winners will be announced, as usual, on September 8, the anniversary of the first airing of Star Trek on NBC back in 1966.
Anyone can submit a nomination using the following form page:
https://www.cognitoforms.com/JonathanLane1/_2026StarTrekFanFilmSHOWRUNNERAWARDS
Good luck!