The submission window for the 2026 Star Trek Fan Film SHOWRUNNER AWARDS is now open and will remain so until midnight Pacific Time on May 31, 2025. Any Star Trek fan film released publicly between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025 is eligible for entry regardless of the person or team producing it.
The online entry form is located here…
https://www.cognitoforms.com/JonathanLane1/_2026StarTrekFanFilmSHOWRUNNERAWARDS
As usual, our judging panel remains at twelve, made up of people who have, themselves, served as showrunners on one or more fan films or series. This provides each judge a unique and personal perspective on what goes into making a fan production in our nearly two-dozen categories. In other words, our judges are knowledgeable and experienced in filmmaking which, I truly believe, brings a high level of expertise to our competition—along with our sister contest, the DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS, which just wrapped up earlier this month.
And it is for this reason that, each year, I publish a blog spotlighting our judging panel and what they have accomplished in the world of Star Trek fan films specifically. We’ve got two new judges this year plus one “swap.” The swap is GLEN L. WOLFE for DAN REYNOLDS. They are the co-owners of WARP 66 STUDIOS in northern Arkansas and the co-showrunners of THE FEDERATION FILES fanthology series. Each year, one of the two of them “tags out” to give the other a turn. So in 20256, Glen will be taking over Dan’s spot, who in turn took over Glen’s spot in last year’s competition.
Our two new judges are both from “across the pond” in Europe. One is relatively new to being a showrunner, although he’s already had a multi-year career in Star Trek fan films. The other is a bit of a legend and someone whom I’ve been trying to talk into being a Showrunner Awards judge since we first launched this endeavor five years ago…
THOMAS ARGANTE – USS CASSANDRA
The first of our two new judges this year is THOMAS ARGANTE from The Netherlands. Over the past half-decade, he has made multiple guest appearances in fan series productions from DREADNOUGHT DOMINION, PROJECT: RUNABOUT, and THE CONSTAR CHRONICLES. But within the past year, he and a team of Dutch Trekkers have begun building a number of TOS-era sets, and they’ve released the first two episodes of Holland’s newest Star Trek fan series, USS CASSANDRA. Thomas brings a fresh pair of eyes to the showrunner awards with a European perspective, and we’re really looking forward to having his as a judge.
JOSE CEPEDA – NATURE’S HUNGER
Returning for a third year, JOSE CEPEDA lives near Atlanta, GA and is the showrunner of the wild ‘n’ whacky NATURE’S HUNGER fan series, which has been going non-stop since 2010 with dozens of releases…the more recent ones shot in Jose’s basement, which is filled with amazing TOS set recreations. Jose has also made cameo appearances as his character of Captain Ramses of the U.S.S. Crusader in a whole slew of different fan series. This year, Jose’s two-plus hour mega-project CAPTAIN SIMIAN’S FIRST COMMAND will likely be in consideration as a Showrunner Awards entry. And while Jose can’t vote for his own submission in any of the top three-of-five ranked spots on his ballot, I anticipate this unique fan production will nevertheless be a tough competitor.
SAMUEL COCKINGS – TREK SHORTS and TEMPORAL ANOMALY
A returning judge for a fifth year, SAM COCKINGS from the U.K. is a fan film factory! To list all the projects that Sam has created CGI animations for (both his own and for others) would take up far too many electrons for a single blog. Focusing simply on Sam’s own projects, he wrote and directed (and did almost everything else for but act in) the 52-minute TEMPORAL ANOMALY, which premiered in 2019. More recently, Sam’s fanthology series TREK SHORTS (which he also occasionally acts in) has topped THIRTY total releases over the past five years! And all of them feature Sam’s signature jaw-dropping CGI visual effects. Some of those films will likely be in contention this year. And in addition to all of the above, Sam is also the co-host of the TREKYARDS podcast. Sam is one busy Brit!
NICK COOK – INTREPID
Our second brand new judge is anything but new when it comes to producing Star Trek fan films. Indeed, Scotland-based NICK COOK and his team began production on the first episode of STAR TREK: INTREPID way back in 2003, although it was not completed and released until 2007. But since then, Intrepid has released more than a dozen episodes, plus an additional three crossover fan films with STAR TREK: HIDDEN FRONTIER. Add to all of this multiple appearances by Nick’s character of Daniel Hunter at various points in his long Starfleet career as part of releases from Samuel Cockings’ aforementioned Trek Shorts fanthology series. If anyone knows what it means to be a showrunner and produce complex Star Trek fan films, it’s this bloke!
JOSHUA IRWIN – THE AVALON UNIVERSE
Back for a fifth year and based in northwest Arkansas, judge JOSHUA IRWIN actually went to film school and has worked in the entertainment industry for decades…which is why his AVALON UNIVERSE fan films look so polished and professional. With more than a dozen Avalon Universe fan films completed and released in less than six years, Josh also has the footage for a final release already “in the can” that will wrap up the expansive Avalon saga…at least in the 23rd century. And he’s already gotten deep into a 24th century Avalon Universe sequel series! In addition, Josh has helped out MANY other fan filmmakers with their projects (directing, editing, cinematography, etc.), including myself on INTERLUDE, VANCE MAJOR on CONSTAR, and most recently RAY TESI on numerous TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE. This year, Josh has quite a few new fan films that are eligible. It’ll be interesting to see which are entered and how they do!
JONATHAN LANE – INTERLUDE and AN ABSENT FRIEND
Based in Los Angeles, California, JONATHAN LANE (that’s me) began blogging about Star Trek fan films in 2015 on the AXANAR website and started FAN FILM FACTOR at the beginning of 2016. But it would be three more years before I decided to write and produce a fan film of my own. INTERLUDE was actually a fan film of a fan film, a sequel to PRELUDE TO AXANAR. But my real goal was always to learn more about the process of creating a fan film and to blog about it. With a cast and crew of more than 55 people, Interlude debuted in 2021 and inspired dozens of behind-the-scenes blogs covering everything from crowd-funding to pre-production, production, and post-production. My second Star Trek fan film, the Filmation animation-style AN ABSENT FRIEND, was released in 2024 and used A.I. to recreate the voices of beloved late actors LEONARD NIMOY and DeFOREST KELLEY in their iconic roles of Spock and McCoy.
MARK LARGENT – STALLED TREK
Based in Dallas, Texas, returning judge MARK LARGENT is the brilliant and incredibly talented mind behind the STALLED TREK series of 3D animated puppet parodies that began with “AMUTT TIME” back in 2012. Four years later, Mark and I collaborated to create a Stalled Trek parody of the Axanar lawsuit titled PRELUDE TO AX’D-WE-ARE. In late 2019, Mark released a Stalled Trek short titled “ALL AHEAD FULL.” Most recently, Mark released his hilarious and award-winning crowd-funded puppet parody, “THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FORECLOSURE.” And if you haven’t had enough of those parody puppets, last year Mark released his latest masterpiece, “THE DUMBSDAY MACHINE,” which has won numerous film festival awards and will probably be entered into the Showrunner Awards this year…right, Mark?
VANCE MAJOR – CONSTAR
Returning to our judging panel, Kansas-based VANCE MAJOR revolutionized the world of Star Trek fan films by boldly making grassroots-quality productions with little more than a script, a cell phone camera, and (maybe) a uniform…or a hoodie. Sometimes Vance would luck out and shoot on a TOS set in Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Georgia. But more often than not, it was just a room in his house or a park in his town—with the story being the most important element. Vance produced and/or was involved in nearly 150 CONSTAR saga fan films telling the story of his character Erick Minard, and he has cameoed in countless other fan films and series. Vance has been an inspiration to innumerable fan filmmakers for his “just do it and let the critics be damned” attitude toward creating his projects.
BRIAN W. PETERSON – THE LOST STARSHIP
Returning for a third year as a showrunner judge, Kansas-based BRIAN W. PETERSON made his debut in 2023 with the excellent THE LOST STARSHIP, which he wrote, produced, and appeared in as an extra. That project was so successful that it won an ultra-impressive THIRTEEN different awards in 2024’s Showrunner Awards competition (second only to Josh Irwin’s CRISIS ON INFINITE EXCALIBURS with 18 wins at various tiers). Released under the banner of the fanthology series TALES FROM THE NEUTRAL ZONE, The Lost Starship film was produced as a collaboration between NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS and AVALON UNIVERSE. Brian is also a published author with five novels under his belt (two of them sci-fi). Brian is planning to write and produce more fan films going forward, which is good news for fans!
BENJAMIN SCHULZ – LORELEY
If you’re one of those Trekkers who doesn’t watch fan films that require subtitle translations, then you’re really missing out when it comes to the LORELEY fan series. This German production debuted their first full-length fan film in early 2022, and their latest release, Loreley – A STAR TREK Fan Production “PART III: ERSTKONTAKT” from last year, just took the BEST STAR TREK FAN FILM Award, at this year’s Director’s Choice Awards. Multiple Lorely releases are eligible for the 2026 Showrunner Awards. Their costumes, lighting, camera work, make-up, green screen compositing, and visual effects are simply spectacular and certainly worth checking out. Benjamin, along with his filmmaking partner HEIKO THIES, oversees most of this well-oiled operation, so he certainly knows what goes into making a quality Star Trek fan film.
GLEN L. WOLFE – THE FEDERATION FILES and WARP 66 STUDIOS
Returning to judge after taking a sabbatical last year, GLEN L. WOLFE lives in northern Arkansas and is the co-owner of WARP 66 STUDIOS, a collection of TOS-era starship sets that have been used for numerous Star Trek fan films. Along with his showrunning partner DAN REYNOLDS, Glen has helped create more than a dozen episodes of their fanthology series, THE FEDERATION FILES. Glen is affectionately known (by me, at least) as the “Where’s Waldo of Star Trek fan films,” having appeared in and/or helped other filmmakers make countless fan films and series over the last couple of decades.
RANDY WRENN – DREADNOUGHT DOMINION (and more!)
While his production partner GARY DAVIS is busy helping to get NEUTRAL ZONE STUDIOS back up an running in Gary’s home state of Ohio, North Carolina-based RANDY WRENN is retuning for a fifth year as a judge. Both men have been the co-showrunners, writers, directors, and stars of DREADNOUGHT DOMINION for a decade…although they have now both stepped behind the camera for the foreseeable future (well, except in the Mirror Universe, that is). They have also spun off the new fan series PROJECT: RUNABOUT and WARBIRD VALDORE, the latter being the first (that I know of) fan series to be produced entirely from the point of view of the crew of a Romulan vessel and crew. I fully expect entries from all three series in this year’s Showrunner Awards.
And that’s our twelve judges, all looking forward to viewing some really FANtastic Star Trek fan films! Once again, here’s the link to the submission page…
https://www.cognitoforms.com/JonathanLane1/_2026StarTrekFanFilmSHOWRUNNERAWARDS