The 2024 Trekzone Fan Film Awards was held on July 10, 2024, and it was our third awards show with seventeen categories including one that was decided by the fans for the first time.

2024 Trekzone Fan Film Awards

Best Actress
Sarah Holton for Empyrean
Jana Šebestová for Can’t Stop
Henrike Luttmann for Monster
Miri Lux for The Legacy of the Archein

Sarah put in a powerful performance in this fan film, and it was done perfectly, nothing over the top, a doctor who has to deal with loss especially somebody so young and had plenty left to give.

Best Actor
Dennis StrauB for Monster
Jordan Consalvi for Where Monsters Dwell
Reid Schmidt for Defenders of the Federation
Radek Belina in Can’t Stop

Jordan really made Where Monsters Dwell great, the character of Vos gave us the creeps and when a villain does that, you know got a good fan film in your hands, if you haven’t seen ‘Where Monsters Dwell’, give it a try and see for yourself.

Best Director
Radek “Flash” Bělina for Can’t Stop
Chelsey L. Boston and Randall Landers for Where Monsters Dwell
Jeff Nord for Defenders of the Federation
Benjamin Schulz & Heiko Thies for Monster

Four unique fan films bring four unique challenges, Jeff Nord is the King of classic Sci-Fi looks and to make a fan film that matches the look, and the intensity of the classics was enough to get the nod for this award.

Best Music
Justin Bell for Defenders of the Federation
Anthony Johnson and Tony Lunn for Honor and Treachery
Matthew Lee Blackburn for Unfinished Business
Leszek Karczewski for USS Enterprise

A tension filled fan film needs the music to match it and Justin Bell provided this in Defenders of the Federation, the music changes with the situation perfectly, it was a perfect match with the visuals.

Best Crossover
Unfinished Business (Superman)
Empires at War (Stargate)

The way Superman was done in this fan film really made it good, Empires at War did have a good mix of Stargate and Star Trek, but Supes is just too good, it had that classic Superman shirt opening and many of his classic superpowers, you’d never thought you’d see this in a Star Trek fan film.

Best Fan Film

Can’t Stop
Where Monsters Dwell
Monster
The Legacy of the Archein

This was a tough category, all four offered something unique, all four were attention grabbing in their own ways but The Legacy of the Archein had the right mix to give it the nod.

The story starting in the past, introduction of the exocomp, the USS Spirit of Proxima, the innocent picking something up off the ground that turns out to be something life threatening, the merging of the past and present to tell a complete story, they made the most of the fifty-three-minute runtime.

Best Short Fan Film
Defenders of the Federation
Yeager
Empyrean
Starfleet’s Youngest Ensign

Empyrean was a fan film that can emotionally affect you, it was nothing over the top, just an emotional experience with a thought-provoking storyline that is Potemkin Pictures’ signature style and they done it all in the space of just a couple of minutes.

Best Story
David Eversole, based on a premise by Homer William Eversole for Dream Time
Dennis Strauß & Heiko Thies for Monster
Matthew Lee Blackburn and Daniel McIntyre for Unfinished Business
Manuel Willenberg for Ambassador

Another tough category, they all tell a good story but the story for Monster just puts it over the top of the other three fine fan films as they all had something unique but in Monster, all is not what it seems from the Doctor on the planet to family matters.

Best Trailer
Leo
Starfleet Legends Act III
Monster
The Legacy of the Archein

Out of the four we believed that The Legacy of the Archein’s trailer showed enough that we wanted to see the full fan film, we must say that Starfleet Legends Act III looks very interesting, and we look forward to seeing it.

Best Production House
Potemkin Pictures
FSFilm
Lea Design Bureau

Potemkin Pictures has the complete package, that’s what separates it from the other two production houses, FSFilm has been increasing its releases of fan films and Lea Design Bureau has made plenty of fan films, the lack of live action hampers the latter.

Best VFX
Monster
The Legacy of the Archein
Yeager
Tomorrows Enterprise

Chris Lea does beautiful work and Yeager is no exception, if you haven’t seen it, give it a go because there is so much beauty in the fan films that Chris Lea makes.

The visuals in the fan film, I believe is second to none, Chris Lea appears to be the best in the business, look at the beauty of the Yeager when it comes right up to the camera, the beautiful planet, going into warp, the asteroids, the ship going through the gases, we’re seeing the Yeager at work with minimal voices and maximum music.

Best Costume
Klingon Uniforms in Ambassador
Lower Decks era Uniform in Wardens of Time
TNG movie era Uniform in Unfinished Business
The Motion Picture era uniform in Defenders of the Federation

The costumes looked fantastic in these four fan films, and it was a tough decision but the ones in Wardens of Time looked very well made and looked right on all the actors, some costumes just don’t look right on people but there was no problem here.

Best Hero Ship
USS Enterprise in USS Enterprise
USS Enterprise-D in Tomorrows Enterprise
USS Loreley in Monster
IKS Qab’elth in Honor and Treachery

What a beauty the Enterprise was, we had four good ships to choose from this we couldn’t go past this beauty especially in the way it was used, seeing it against planets, moons and going by space station was beautiful to see and it was presented in such sharp quality.

Best Makeup
Henrike Luttmann, Clara Folkens, Julia Kulbarsch-Wilke and Maike Wolfe for Monster
Thomas Felix Sailer for Ambassador
Robin Kunkel, Randall Landers, and Mat Acra for Formication
Katelyn Carafano & Chelsea Ross for The Path of Honor

This one was another tough category, Formication did have a gruesome scene that got attention but the overall makeup in Monster put it over the top for us, from the Orion and the Trill to the holes in the head, the bloodied Captain.

Most Watched Fan Film
Can’t Stop

Most Watched Short Fan Film
Red Sea

Most Popular Fan Film
Can’t Stop

What a battle this was, A Fighting Chance: Roaring Thunder got out to a 22% lead but Can’t Stop reeled them in only for A Fighting Chance to get back ahead and then Can’t Stop got it back and it went toe to toe in the last night until the very last hour when Can’t Stop broke away to win by a 4% margin.

There was one concerning element in the poll, xenophobia, a division between Europe and North America particularly the United States of America, a fan film should be liked on its merits or backing a friend not because it was made in a certain country or continent.

Final Thoughts

This was our best awards show yet, everything went according to plan which was good, and we’re pleased to say that we will be back in 2025 but before then we will be having the ‘Best of 2024 List’ coming up on December 31.

Awards Breakdown

Potemkin Pictures – 1
Defenders of the Federation – 2
Empyrean – 2
Monster – 2
The Legacy of the Archein – 2
Red Sea – 1
USS Enterprise – 1
Yeager – 1
Wardens of Time – 1
Can’t Stop – 2
Where Monsters Dwell – 1
Unfinished Business – 1

Awards Breakdown by Group

Potemkin Pictures – 4 awards
Chris Lea – 3
Monster – 2
Jeff Nord – 2
The Legacy of the Archein – 2
FSFilm – 3
Unfinished Business – 1