Bjo Awards
The Bjo Awards is a set of annual awards to recognize achievement in excellence among independent Star Trek fan films released to the Internet during the previous calendar year. Inspired by the Hugo and Nebula Awards and based loosely on the Emmy, Oscar and Tony Awards, the Bjo Awards are presented at the annual Treklanta convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Created and produced by Treklanta founder and chairman Eric L. Watts, the Bjo Awards is a juried competition judged by a panel of industry professionals with established credits in the Star Trek franchise and/or notable Star Trek fans with professional experience in the entertainment industry.
Bjo Trimble—who coordinated the letter-writing campaigns that successfully saved the original Star Trek series from cancellation at the end of its second season and petitioned President Gerald R. Ford to rename NASA's first space orbiter "USS Enterprise" and who also wrote The Star Trek Concordance—and her husband John were guests of honor at the 2016 Treklanta and presenters of awards at that year's Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, Mrs. Trimble told Watts how impressed she was with the awards program, thanked all those who were involved in their creation, production and presentation, and graciously agreed, at Watts' request, to lend her name to them. The announcement of this name change was made at the 2017 awards ceremony and fully implemented by the time of the 2018 ceremony.
The actual award is an 8 x 10 wall plaque on a cherry wood board with a color back plate and sublimated inscription plate. Each plaque includes the award category; series name, episode title and name of the winners; and date of the award inscribed on the inscription plate.
Eligibility requirements
To be eligible for consideration in each year's awards, an independent Star Trek fan film must:- Be a live-action dramatic presentation set in the Star Trek universe, not animated or CGI, nor a satire or parody of Star Trek
- Have "Based upon Star Trek, Created by Gene Roddenberry" in the title sequence, opening credits or closing credits
- Have been released to the Internet during the previous calendar year, and
- Have an entry on IMDb.com with full cast and crew credits listed
2015
Sixteen independent Star Trek fan films released in calendar year 2014 with a total running time of eight hours, five minutes were deemed eligible for consideration for the 2015 Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards.Based loosely on the Emmy, Oscar and Tony awards, the original nine categories were Best Production Design; Best Visual Effects; Best Soundtrack; Best Original Story or Screenplay; Best Supporting Actor or Actress; Best Actor or Actress; Best Director; Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form ; and Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.
The panel of judges for the 2015 awards included Diana Dru Botsford, Peter David, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Michael DeMeritt and Susan Sackett. The awards ceremony was held at Treklanta on April 26, 2015, hosted by Eric L. Watts and Brian Holloway. Awards presenters included Jason Carter, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Sean Kenney and Anne Lockhart.
Films eligible for consideration
Winners & finalists by category
Summary
Star Trek: Axanar won six of nine awards, Star Trek Continues won two awards and won one award.2016
Eighteen independent Star Trek fan films released in calendar year 2015 with a total running time of six hours, fifty minutes were deemed eligible for consideration for the 2016 Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards.For 2016, the category of Best Visual Effects was broadened to include Special Effects and renamed Best Special & Visual Effects, and Best Actor or Actress was renamed Best Lead Actor or Actress. Additionally, the Best Soundtrack category was split into Best Original Music and Best Sound Design, Editing & Mixing; and categories for Best Guest Actor or Actress, Best Costuming and Best Makeup & Hairstyling were added, increasing the total number of categories from nine to thirteen.
The panel of judges for the 2016 awards included Diana Dru Botsford, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Ken Feinberg, Matthew M. Foster, Andrew Greenberg, David Orange, Emmett Plant and Rick Sternbach. The awards ceremony was held at Treklanta on April 17, 2016, hosted by Eric L. Watts and Brian Holloway. Awards presenters included Tracee Lee Cocco, Jack Stauffer, Carel Struycken and John & Bjo Trimble.
Films eligible for consideration
Winners & finalists by category
Summary
won seven of thirteen awards, Star Trek Continues won five awards and Starship Tristan won one award.2017
Thirty-three independent Star Trek fan films released in calendar year 2016 with a total running time of eleven hours, forty-nine minutes were deemed eligible for consideration for the 2017 Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards.For 2017, the category of Best Production Design was deleted, decreasing the total number of categories from thirteen to twelve.
The panel of judges for the 2017 awards included Diana Dru Botsford, Keith R. A. DeCandido, John DeSentis, Matthew M. Foster, Andrew Greenberg, Robert Greenberger, Cheralyn Lambeth and Archie H. Waugh. The awards ceremony was held at Treklanta on April 30, 2017, hosted by Eric L. Watts and Brian Holloway. Awards presenters included David Gerrold, James Horan, Gary Graham and John G. Hertzler.
Films eligible for consideration
Winners & finalists by category
Summary
Star Trek Continues won six of twelve awards, Star Trek: Horizon won four awards and Needs of the Many won two awards.2018
Twenty-one independent Star Trek fan films released in calendar year 2017 with a total running time of eight hours, fifteen minutes were deemed eligible for consideration for the 2018 Bjo Awards.For 2018, no changes were made to the previous year's twelve award categories.
The panel of judges for the 2018 awards included Diana Dru Botsford, Dr. Meldrena Chapin, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Andrew Greenberg, Deborah Stevenson and Geoffrey Thorne. The awards ceremony was held at Treklanta on May 27, 2018, hosted by Eric L. Watts and Brian Holloway. Awards presenters included Conrad Coates, Gary Graham and Robert O'Reilly.
Films eligible for consideration
Winners & finalists by category
Summary
Star Trek Continues won ten of twelve awards, The Federation Files won one award and The Derelict won one award.2019
Twenty-six independent Star Trek fan films released in calendar year 2018 with a total running time of six hours, thirty-nine minutes were deemed eligible for consideration for the 2019 Bjo Awards.For 2019, because only two of the twenty-six eligible films had running times longer than thirty minutes, the categories of Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form and Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form were combined into a single category, Best Dramatic Presentation, decreasing the total number of categories from twelve to eleven.
The panel of judges for the 2019 awards included Diana Dru Botsford, Andrew Greenberg, Jason P. Hunt, William Schlichter, Deborah Stevenson and Andrew Wallace. The awards ceremony was held at Treklanta on May 26, 2019, hosted by Eric L. Watts and Marc B. Lee. Awards presenters included Aron Eisenberg, Bill Blair and Nichole McAuley.