It’s crazy to think that 2026 marks the FIFTH annual Star Trek Fan Film SHOWRUNNER AWARD contest. Originally conceived at nearly the same moment as GLEN WOLFE’s and DAN REYNOLD’s DIRECTORS CHOICE AWARDS back in early 2022, the Showrunner Awards were intended to replace the time-honored BJO AWARDS for Star Trek fan films, which had been presented for over half a decade during the annual Treklanta convention.
The tradition was established during the first Showrunner Awards to announce the winners during the anniversary of the first airing of Star Trek on NBC back in 1966. So happy 60th birthday, Star Trek, and happy 5th birthday, Showrunner Awards!
This year, we had 23 entries combining for a total of just under 10 hours of viewing for our 12 showrunner judges. For comparison, last year we had 24 entries and the year before there were 27 entires, each with a combined runtime of just under 9 hours. So we decreased by one submission but increased by an entire hour??? If you’re curious as to why, one of our submissions has a run time of 2 hours and 15 minutes just by itself!)
Speaking of our judges, each is himself a showrunner on a Star Trek fan film or series, so they know what’s involved in producing a successful project. This year, our panel consisted of these fine gentlemen…
- THOMAS ARGANTE – USS CASSANDRA
- JOSE CEPEDA – NATURE’S HUNGER
- NICK COOK – INTREPID
- SAMUEL COCKINGS – TREK SHORTS and TEMPORAL ANOMALY
- JOSHUA IRWIN – THE AVALON UNIVERSE and other productions
- JONATHAN LANE – INTERLUDE and AN ABSENT FRIEND
- MARK LARGENT – STALLED TREK
- VANCE MAJOR – CONSTAR
- BRIAN W. PETERSON – THE LOST STARSHIP
- BENJAMIN SCHULZ – LORELEY
- GLEN L WOLFE – THE FEDERATION FILES
- RANDY WRENN – DREADNOUGHT DOMINION and other series
Thomas Argante and Nick Cook were newly added to our judging panel this year, although neither is “rookie” when it comes to Star Trek fan films. Thomas has made multiple guest appearances over the past half-decade in fan series productions from DREADNOUGHT DOMINION and PROJECT: RUNABOUT to THE CONSTAR CHRONICLES before launching the new USS CASSANDRA fan series in the Netherlands last year. As for Nick, well, he’s been one of the most recognizable faces in Star Trek fan films dating back twenty years with appearances in the Scotland-based INTREPID fan series, the America-based STAR TREK: HIDDEN FRONTIER series, as well as numerous England-based TREK SHORTS from prolific showrunner Sam Cockings.
Every judge ranked their top five selections in each of 22 categories, with their top choice earning 10 points, second choice earning 7 points, then 5, 3, and 1 points for choices three through five. A judge was not allowed to vote for a fan film they themselves submitted as any of their top three selections.
A huge thank you to each of our judges for putting in their time and consideration to making the Showrunner Awards possible for a half-decade now. You guys are awesome!
Continue reading “Announcing the 2026 Star Trek Fan Film SHOWRUNNER AWARD WINNERS!”