The Philon Awards – Excellency in K/S

KiScon is honoured to once again host the Philon Awards. Originally established by Jenna Sinclair and Shelley Butler in 1997, this annual event’s purpose is to honour outstanding authors and artists in K/S fandom.

Important dates: Nominations: 20 June – 15 August, 2026. Voting: 1 September – 31 October, 2026. Eligibility (works created & published): 1 August 2025 – 31 July 2026. There are 11 categories: Ficlet (word count under 1K) Short fic (word count 1K–5K) Medium-length fic (word count 5K–10K) Long fic (word count 10K–20K) Novella (word count 20K–50K) Novel (word count over 50K) Podfic Traditional Art Digital Art Poetry Zines For each category the voters will determine a Gold (first place) and a Silver (second place) winner.

Rules Nominating and Voting:

Nominations are open from 20 June to 15 August, 2026. Each fan can nominate up to 3 works per category, but you cannot nominate the same work twice.

For a work to make it onto the voting ballot, it needs at least 3 nominations. Before we add it to the ballot, we will get in touch with the creator to ask whether they are fine with this! 

Voting is open from 1 September to 31 October, 2026.

The winners will be announced during a special online event in early November that we will announce soon. Each winner will receive a certificate and a small prize.

It bears repeating: One person —> one submission of the nominations form. Same for voting: one person —> one submission of the voting ballot. Please do not attempt to game the system by using multiple accounts; we see this and it makes us question the future of the Philon Awards.

Nominating and voting both take place via Google Forms, and you need to be logged in and enter either your AO3 or your Discord name on the form in order to submit the nominations; this ensures that people do not nominate or vote multiple times for the same work. If we suspect sockpuppet activity, we will get in touch for clarification. We keep the nomination and voting process completely confidential! Only the KiScon concom will see the submitted forms.

While *we* won't talk about who nominated what, *you* can still discuss your faves and promote them, if you feel comfortable doing so. Making fellow fans aware of great works and sharing why you love and want to nominate them, is encouraged.

You can submit the nominations form only once, but you can edit your response if you need to add or change something (just follow the link in the email you receive after submitting the form). Please make sure to include every fanwork you want to see on the shortlist. You cannot edit your responses after nominations have closed (15 August 2026, end of day, timezone: Anywhere on Earth, i.e. UTC -12).

To answer a question we receive frequently: yes, you *can* nominate (and vote for) your own work(s). We won't judge you. ;-) 

Fanworks:

The work must focus on the pairing Kirk/Spock or Kirk & Spock. Slash (romantic and/or sexual relationship) and gen (friendship) are equally eligible. If a fic includes Kirk and/or Spock in relationships with other characters, be they canonical or original, this does not disqualify the work for the Philon Awards, as long as the focus is clearly on Kirk and Spock's relationship. 

Art must feature Kirk or Spock or both of them; additional characters in the artwork are allowed, but no depiction of Kirk/Other or Spock/Other.

All universes are welcome: TOS (series and movies), TAS, and reboot, Discovery and Strange New Worlds. AUs and mirror universe are equally allowed. Crossovers between different Trek franchises or between Trek and other media are permitted, as long as Kirk and Spock are the work’s main characters.

RPF works (e.g. Shatnoy) are not eligible.

All ratings and genres are allowed. If a work among your nominations includes strong elements that would merit a warning on the AO3 (e.g. rape, major character death etc.), we'd appreciate a heads-up on the nominations form, so that we can make sure to include the warning on the shortlist. 

The work must be complete. It can be part of a series, but the work itself must not be a WIP (missing chapters or a draft/unfinished sketch).

Eligibility: The work must have been created and published (print or online) after last year's nomination period. So, everything from 1 August 2025 onwards until the end of the current nomination phase (31 July 2026) is eligible. Reprints or uploads of earlier works (e.g. a fic you wrote and published a few years ago and uploaded to the AO3 only recently) cannot take part in this contest. If a multi-chapter fic was started earlier, but the date of completion falls within the eligible range, then it can also be nominated.

For podfic the creation/publication date of the actual podfic counts, not of the written fic that inspired it.

AI-generated works are NOT allowed.

Traditional art means that it was hand-drawn or hand-painted; scanning or photographing the finished work in order to publish it online is allowed, of course.

With digital art, we mean art that was created by a fan artist directly on a tablet or computer, or art that started out as hand-drawn and underwent significant digital alterations in the next steps. We do NOT allow AI-generated art! Manips based on still images or photos of the actors are not eligible in this contest.

Zines: Both e-zines and print zines published between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2026 are eligible.

(Winners, Linda will be contacting you regarding your prizes. Please look out for her email/message/carrier pigeon!)

Philon Awards 2025 Winners

(officially announced on 2 Nov 2025, at KiScon) 🏆 Gold: ...in relief by a_most_beloved_fool 🏆 Silver: Dig it in There, Captain Kirk by mazarinememories

Short Fic (word count 1K–5K): 🏆 Gold: HOWL by indeedcaptain 🏆 Silver: summer comes, winter fades by InkDropMemories Medium-Length Fic (word count 5K–10K): 🏆 Gold: Lessons in Seduction, Presented by S'chn T'gai Spock by Phoenix_Rose 🏆 Silver: A Little Human Emotionality by Moreta1848

Long Fic (word count 10K–20K): 🏆 Gold: thrum: a sonata in three movements by selfmadepurgatories 🏆 Silver: on a crooked little trajectory by tothewillofthepeople

Novella (word count 20K–50K): 🏆 Gold: long you live and high you fly by pinkgrapefloyd 🏆 Silver: Too Lonely a Place by Illegalpaladin (kellysaur)

Novel (word count over 50K): 🏆 Gold: No Dawn, No Day by xiaq 🏆 Silver: Silent Star by Moreta1848

Podfic: 🏆 Gold: The Exiles (written by Moreta1848) by cookiemom6067 🏆 Silver: Time After Time (written by spaceisgay (ChancellorGriffin)) by cookiemom6067

Poetry: 🏆 Gold: HR Violations on the USS Enterprise by indeedcaptain 🏆 Silver: Opportunity Knocks by gunstreet

Traditional Art: 🏆 Gold: “Because the word love isn’t written in your book” by strawberry-sweets (Bluesky post) 🏆 Silver: Love in Bloom by PageofWands

Digital Art: 🏆 Gold: HURT (comic) by beloved-icarus 🏆 Silver: Irrational Numbers (comic) by sidetrek (link to full download)

Philon Awards 2025: Shortlist / Voting

VOTE HERE ☑️

(in alphabetical order of the title; shortlist based on the results of the nominations phase that was open from 1 June to 31 July, 2025)

Ficlet (word count under 1K):

...in relief by a_most_beloved_fool

Cruelty by Phoenix_Rose

devoted by Sir_Bedevere

Dig it in There, Captain Kirk by mazarinememories

spirk picnic by Illegalpaladin (kellysaur)

Short Fic (word count 1K–5K):

At the End of Time by a_most_beloved_fool

HOWL by indeedcaptain

summer comes, winter fades by InkDropMemories

The Scientist by Spock Lovemail (OneHitWondersAnonymous)

Too Little, Too Late by StuckIn85

Vulcan That Was by dogpoet

Medium-Length Fic (word count 5K–10K):

A Little Human Emotionality by Moreta1848

Lessons in Seduction, Presented by S'chn T'gai Spock by Phoenix_Rose

My Friends by Jenna Hilary Sinclair

secrets the flowers keep by a_most_beloved_fool

The Appointed Place by CampySpaceSlime

The spear-carrier's captain by Moreta1848

Vivarium by RookSacrifice

Long Fic (word count 10K–20K):

A System of Touch by gunstreet

Chess Night by CampySpaceSlime

Love is a Four-Letter Farewell by selfmadepurgatories

on a crooked little trajectory by tothewillofthepeople

Parted From Me and Never Parted by gangstabilbo

space for air by selfmadepurgatories

Starfleet, et alia by indeedcaptain

thrum: a sonata in three movements by selfmadepurgatories

to be far from the stars by tothewillofthepeople

What Wonder Have We Wrought Here by remylebae

Novella (word count 20K–50K):

And in the Fields the Cervidae by infernalia

And Then, Excuse From Pain by unbearable_lightness_of_ink

home is just another word for you by spaceisgay (ChancellorGriffin)

long you live and high you fly by pinkgrapefloyd

My Hand to Yours by Spock Lovemail (OneHitWondersAnonymous)

Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal by aprettysmalldose

second hand news by cicak

sordida speculi by spaceisgay (ChancellorGriffin)

The First by gunstreet

The Royal We by indeedcaptain

Too Lonely a Place by Illegalpaladin (kellysaur)

Novel (word count over 50K):

A Compatible Match by CelestialVoyeur

A tall ship and a star to steer her by by Moreta1848

Help Me Not To Be (Extended Version) by ForFucksSakeJim

No Dawn, No Day by xiaq

Silent Star by Moreta1848

Supermoon by gunstreet

The Survivor's Guide to Hungry Ghosts by Zelda_Bird

This First Sharp Taste by s0ymilk

Podfic:

Fly Over My Grave Again (written by gunstreet) by foundbyjohndoe

No Troubles as Tribbles (written by ForFucksSakeJim) by 1lostone

The Exiles (written by Moreta1848) by cookiemom6067

Time After Time (written by spaceisgay (ChancellorGriffin)) by cookiemom6067

Poetry:

HR Violations on the USS Enterprise by indeedcaptain

Infinity by Spock Lovemail (OneHitWondersAnonymous)

Opportunity Knocks by gunstreet

prompt: fist fight by indeedcaptain

Saul on the Road to Damascus by Campy SpaceSlime

The Lovers by Spock Lovemail (OneHitWondersAnonymous)

Traditional Art:

“Because the word love isn’t written in your book” by strawberry-sweets (Bluesky post)

Art Nouveau Spock by PageofWands

Bad Things Come in Threes by lichqueenlibrarian

Cosmic Love by Purple_Enma

Love in Bloom by PageofWands

Meld by the--nightcrawler

Our selves, blurred by Faal (Tumblr post)

Silent Star by lichqueenlibrarian (Tumblr post)

the search for spock by andruillus

WINGS by SButler

Digital Art:

A post-TVH commission for @honestlysecretjellyfish by sidetrek

All the Stars and Spaces in Between (comic) by lorvee

Happy birthday Spock! (Archons Screencap Redraw) by mr--spock

HURT (comic) by beloved-icarus

Into You by AmIsRic

Irrational Numbers (comic) by sidetrek (link to full download)

One Second to Midnight by Florian_Gray

The heart of the cave by CelestialVoyeur

untitled (trio) by calmao666

Zines:

KiScon Zine 2024 by 1lostone and Alice West (editors) – Note: As no other zine was nominated in this category, it is the winner and won't be on the voting ballot.

You can also see the shortlist on this Google spreadsheet. Make a copy to have your own spreadsheet to keep track of what you've already read and how you liked it. Rules for Voting:

Voting is open from 10 August to 10 October, 2025. You do not need to be a registered KiScon member in order to vote; voting is open to every K/S fan.

In each category there will be a Gold (first place) and a Silver (second place) winner.

The winners will be announced on the last day of KiScon 2025 (2 Nov). Each winner will receive a certificate and a small prize.

It bears repeating: One person —> one submission of the voting ballot. Please do not attempt to game the system by using multiple accounts; we see this and it makes us question the future of the Philon Awards.

Just like nominating, voting also takes place via Google Forms, and you need to be logged in with a Google account, and enter either your AO3 or your Discord name on the form in order to submit the voting ballot; this ensures that people do not vote multiple times for the same work. If we suspect sockpuppet activity, we will get in touch for clarification. We keep the nomination and voting process completely confidential! Only the KiScon concom will see the submitted forms.

In each category you can pick one work.

While *we* won't talk about who nominated or voted for what, *you* can still discuss your faves and promote them, if you feel comfortable doing so, for example in the KiScord (channel #philon-awards) and on Tumblr (tag @philon-awards or #philon awards). Making fellow fans aware of great works and sharing why you love them, is encouraged.

You can submit the voting form only once, but you can edit your response if you need to add or change something (just follow the link in the email you receive after submitting the form). Please make sure to vote in all fanwork categories that are important to you. You cannot edit your responses after voting has closed (10 October 2025, end of day, timezone: Anywhere on Earth, i.e. UTC -12).

To answer a question we receive frequently: yes, you *can* vote for your own work(s). We won't judge you. ;-) 

Please make sure you nominate before the deadline!

KiScon is honoured to once again host the Philon Awards. Originally established by Jenna Sinclair and Shelley Butler in 1997, this annual event's purpose is to honour outstanding authors and artists in K/S fandom.

Important Philon dates: Nominations: 1 June – 31 July, 2025. Voting: 10 August – 10 October, 2025. Eligibility (works created & published): 1 September 2024 – 31 July 2025.

There are 11 categories: Ficlet (word count under 1K) Short fic (word count 1K–5K) Medium-length fic (word count 5K–10K) Long fic (word count 10K–20K) Novella (word count 20K–50K) Novel (word count over 50K) Podfic Traditional Art Digital Art Poetry Zines For each category the voters will determine a Gold (first place) and a Silver (second place) winner.

Rules: Nominating and Voting:

Nominations are open from 1 June to 31 July, 2025. Each fan can nominate up to 3 works per category, but you cannot nominate the same work twice.

For a work to make it onto the voting ballot, it needs at least 3 nominations. Before we add it to the ballot, we will get in touch with the creator to ask whether they are fine with this! 

Voting is open from 10 August to 10 October, 2025.

The winners will be announced during KiScon 2025. Each winner will receive a certificate and a small prize.

It bears repeating: One person —> one submission of the nominations form. Same for voting: one person —> one submission of the voting ballot. Please do not attempt to game the system by using multiple accounts; we see this and it makes us question the future of the Philon Awards.

Nominating and voting both take place via Google Forms, and you need to be logged in and enter either your AO3 or your Discord name on the form in order to submit the nominations; this ensures that people do not nominate or vote multiple times for the same work. If we suspect sockpuppet activity, we will get in touch for clarification. We keep the nomination and voting process completely confidential! Only the KiScon concom will see the submitted forms.

While *we* won't talk about who nominated what, *you* can still discuss your faves and promote them, if you feel comfortable doing so. Making fellow fans aware of great works and sharing why you love and want to nominate them, is encouraged.

You can submit the nominations form only once, but you can edit your response if you need to add or change something (just follow the link in the email you receive after submitting the form). Please make sure to include every fanwork you want to see on the shortlist. You cannot edit your responses after nominations have closed (31 July 2025, end of day, timezone: Anywhere on Earth, i.e. UTC -12).

To answer a question we receive frequently: yes, you *can* nominate (and vote for) your own work(s). We won't judge you. ;-) 

Fanworks:

The work must focus on the pairing Kirk/Spock or Kirk & Spock. Slash (romantic and/or sexual relationship) and gen (friendship) are equally eligible. If a fic includes Kirk and/or Spock in relationships with other characters, be they canonical or original, this does not disqualify the work for the Philon Awards, as long as the focus is clearly on Kirk and Spock's relationship. 

Art must feature Kirk or Spock or both of them; additional characters in the artwork are allowed, but no depiction of Kirk/Other or Spock/Other.

All universes are welcome: TOS (series and movies), TAS, and reboot, Discovery and Strange New Worlds. AUs and mirror universe are equally allowed. Crossovers between different Trek franchises or between Trek and other media are permitted, as long as Kirk and Spock are the work's main characters.

RPF works (e.g. Shatnoy) are not eligible.

All ratings and genres are allowed. If a work among your nominations includes strong elements that would merit a warning on the AO3 (e.g. rape, major character death etc.), we'd appreciate a heads-up on the nominations form, so that we can make sure to include the warning on the shortlist. 

The work must be complete. It can be part of a series, but the work itself must not be a WIP (missing chapters or a draft/unfinished sketch).

Eligibility: The work must have been created and published (print or online) after last year's nomination period. So, everything from 1 September 2024 onwards until the end of the current nomination phase (31 July 2025) is eligible. Reprints or uploads of earlier works (e.g. a fic you wrote and published a few years ago and uploaded to the AO3 only recently) cannot take part in this contest. If a multi-chapter fic was started earlier, but the date of completion falls within the eligible range, then it can also be nominated.

For podfic the creation/publication date of the actual podfic counts, not of the written fic that inspired it.

AI-generated works are NOT allowed.

Traditional art means that it was hand-drawn or hand-painted; scanning or photographing the finished work in order to publish it online is allowed, of course.

With digital art, we mean art that was created by a fan artist directly on a tablet or computer, or art that started out as hand-drawn and underwent significant digital alterations in the next steps. We do NOT allow AI-generated art! Manips based on still images or photos of the actors are not eligible in this contest.

Zines: Both e-zines and print zines published between 1 September 2024 and 31 July 2025 are eligible.

(officially announced on 3 Nov 2024, at KiScon) Short fic (word count under 10K):  🏆 Gold: A Perfect Fit by ThereBeWhalesHere 🏆 Silver: And Filled With Tomorrows by Android_And_Ale

Long fic (word count 10K-50K):  🏆 Gold: Hurt by ThereBeWhalesHere 🏆  Silver: Please Don't Take Him Just Because You Can by spaceisgay (ChancellorGriffin)

Novella/novel (word count over 50K): 🏆 Gold: Regulatory Relations by indeedcaptain 🏆 Silver: I Shall Do Neither by onwhatcaptain

Podfic: 🏆 Gold: The 1,000 Hour Sleep (written by spqr) by cookiemom6067 🏆  Silver: I must confess (written by USS_Queertastic) by 1lostone

Traditional art: 🏆 Gold: The Ritual by Purple_Enma (Tumblr post) 🏆 (ex aequo) 🏆 Gold: Alright mr Spock by knezidon 🏆 (ex aequo) Silver: Spock's Tattoo by SButler (Shelley Butler)

Digital art: 🏆 Gold: Captains' Gambit (comic) by lorvee (Tumblr post) 🏆 Silver: By the Fireplace by lorvee

Poetry: 🏆 Gold: all of me, unguarded by indeedcaptain 🏆 Silver: blanket me by USS_Queertastic (BoldlyQueertastic)

Voting for the Philon Awards 2024 will be open until 27 October, 2024 (11:59 p.m. PDT). You do not need to be a registered KiScon member in order to vote; voting is open to every K/S fan. Unfortunately, the mod has reasons to combine this deadline reminder with a second, not-so-fun reminder: The general rule in the Philon Awards is "1 person – 1 voting form submission". (And the same applies to the nominations phase!) If you need to edit your vote (before the end of the voting phase, 27 October, 2024, 11:59 p.m. PDT), you can do this by following the link in the confirmation email that Google sends to you after you submit the form.

Please do not submit multiple votes from your various different email addresses.

We notice such irregularities, and they spoil the fun for everyone. While KiScon, which is hosting the Philon Awards, does feature a Sockpuppet Parade at the con, we do not allow sockpuppetry in the Philon Awards voting process. ;-)

We want to avoid the unpleasantness of having to disqualify a Philon participant over such shenanigans.

Once the nomination list is announced, I would love if some kind soul would put it all in a Google sheet with links to each fic, category and column to rate. I found it so hard to keep track last year and ended up not reading everything and voting based on my (faulty) memory, lol. I would do it myself but I don’t have the time sadly 😕.

We have prepared a Google spreadsheet exactly for this purpose!

(in alphabetical order of the title; shortlist based on the results of the nominations phase)

Short fic (word count under 10K):

And Filled With Tomorrows by Android_And_Ale

A Perfect Fit by ThereBeWhalesHere

Cherubim by vanilla_extract

Engineering a Fantasy by CampySpaceSlime

Fly Over My Grave Again by gunstreet

Harrekh t'Harrekhi by CampySpaceSlime

How to Win Plants and Influence Lizards by indeedcaptain

Seeing, Unseeing by Jenna Hilary Sinclair (JennaHilary)

The Mess Hall Incident (or why Bones really wants to eat his salad alone, thank you) by discorporating

The Sight of a Touch, or the Scent of a Sound by Moreta1848

Long fic (word count 10K-50K):

All Things Fall and Are Built Again by spaceisgay (ChancellorGriffin)

DESK JOBS by WerewolvesAreReal

How Do I Know He's Mine by HDDrabble

Hurt by ThereBeWhalesHere

Please Don't Take Him Just Because You Can by spaceisgay (ChancellorGriffin)

Space age country girl, stone cold miracle by thembonesthembones

the fine print, and other things james t. kirk doesn't read by onlyafterhours

the yeomen of the garden (and laundry) by cicak

Way from Within by gunstreet

Novella/novel (word count over 50K):

Bodyguard by BurningAmber

Grief as a four-dimensional figure by Moreta1848

I Shall Do Neither by onwhatcaptain

It's Not An Illusion by Borealisblue

mol-kur by uhuraprime

Quell the Cosmic Tides by Plus3Charisma

Regulatory Relations by indeedcaptain

The Exiles by Moreta1848

The rebel and the nerd by Moreta1848

The recitation of names by Moreta1848

Podfic:

Blood Fever (written by T'Lara) by 1lostone

I must confess (written by USS_Queertastic) by 1lostone

milk and honey (written by spaceisgay) by foundbyjohndoe

milk and honey (written by spaceisgay) by cookiemom6067

The 1,000 Hour Sleep (written by spqr) by cookiemom6067

Traditional art:

Alright mr Spock by knezidon

kiss by vanilla-phantoms

Parading with Pride by Purple_Enma

Spock's Tattoo by SButler (Shelley Butler)

Tender Hands by Purple_Enma (Tumblr post)

The Ritual by Purple_Enma (Tumblr post)

Digital art:

(untitled Spock nude) by spirk-my-love (Florian Gray)

By the Fireplace by lorvee

Captains' Gambit (comic) by lorvee (Tumblr post)

Commission for BurningAmber's fic "Bodyguard" by asyncamestel

Harrekh t'Harrekhi by Purple_Enma (Tumblr post)

Mess by eldar_of_zemlya

Morning Sex by nightcrawler1

TALKING TO GHOSTS by emilinqa

Vulcan's Forge by CelestialVoyeur (Tumblr post)

Poetry:

all of me, unguarded by indeedcaptain

blanket me by USS_Queertastic (BoldlyQueertastic)

Shared Space by CelestialVoyeur (poem is chapter 6 in a collection of poems)

The Curious Case of Captain Kirk by CelestialVoyeur (poem is chapter 5 in a collection of poems)

to have and to hold by CateAdams

Zines:

KiScon 2023 Official Zine (editor: 1lostone) (download link)

Wild Heart – A NSFW AOS Spirk zine (editors: borbtrek, remylebae, nicbutnasty) (download link)

You can also see the shortlist on this Google spreadsheet. Make a copy to have your own spreadsheet to keep track of what you've already read and how you liked it.

Nominations are closed! Thank you to everyone who submitted their faves! 56 works across all 8 categories made the cut (i.e. they got 3 or more nominations) and will be on our shortlist. We are now in the process of contacting the authors and artists to get their confirmation whether they are fine with their works being on the voting ballot.

Hello and thank you for your question! (Never a bother! We're happy about any and all questions!)