The 2025 Star Trek Salamander Awards
There were some surprises at this year’s fourth annual Star Trek Salamander Awards, which were conducted at the now-concluded Dragon Con 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.
What are the Star Trek Salamander Awards you might ask? They are an exercise in democracy! It’s where a bunch of lovely Star Trek fans get together, in celebration and contention, to vote on the Star Trek franchise’s best of the worst episodes and movies. And by “best of the worst,” we mean Trek outings so bad that they are inversely enjoyable.
The Salamander Awards are part of a collection of Trek traditions at Dragon Con, all of which have grown organically in popularity over the years. There’s Klingon Karaoke, which has, you guessed it, singing Klingons. There are the Infinite Riker Games, created during the COVID-19 Pandemic and which involves many Rikers competing to be the one true Riker to rule them all. Then there’s the new Subspace Rhapsody Sing-Along, which does for Star Trek’s only musical episode (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) what the Rocky Horror Picture Show has done with fans for decades. And now we have the Salamander Awards, in its fourth year, becoming another odd, but ultimately fun tradition of Trek fandom at the annual Con of Dragons.
For the Salamander Awards, a run of sixteen episodes are chosen via public participation online (through the Dragon Con Trek Track Facebook page and the Trek Track Discord space) in the weeks and months before Dragon Con officially starts. Then, in-person voting on those selected sixteen episodes happens during the Con, with passionate Trek fans defending or deriding episodes based on the merit of those stories. Candidates (or, Salamandidates, actually!) are paired up, round after round, with votes being tallied until a clear winner is crowned. This is the first year in which Trek films were added to the pool of salamandidates. Section 31 and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier were very quickly added to the list.
THE SALAMANDIDATES FOR 2025
(in no particular order here)
- “Conspiracy” — Star Trek: The Next Generation
- “Catspaw” — Star Trek: The Original Series
- “Let He Who Is Without Sin…” — Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- “Choose Your Pain” — Star Trek: Discovery
- “The Magicks Of Megas-Tu” — Star Trek: The Animated Series
- “Miri” — Star Trek: The Original Series
- “Genesis” — Star Trek: The Next Generation
- “Charades” — Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
- “11:59” — Star Trek: Voyager
- “The Thaw” — Star Trek: Voyager
- “Wedding Bell Blues” — Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
- “Vox Sola” — Star Trek: Enterprise
- “The Trouble With Edward” — Star Trek: Short Treks
- “Move Along Home” — Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
- Section 31
In the very first Salamander Awards, in 2022, “Sub Rosa” of Star Trek: The Next Generation took the prize. In the second Salamander Awards, in 2023, “Spock’s Brain” of Star Trek: The Original Series was declared the best of the worst. The 2024’s third annual Salamander Awards crowned “Threshold” of Star Trek: Voyager as the amphibious monarch. In fact, the name ‘Salamander Awards’ is derived from this exact Voyager episode, where two characters transform into salamanders and mate after going really, really fast in a spaceship.
The pairings in the first round started off rather easily, with several episodes clearing votes handily. But through the quasi-final and semi-final rounds, debate heated up. Some episodes were near and dear to hearts, while others were deemed too serious or two good to even be on the list. We heard some passion from the audience! But decisions had to be made, and the audience dutifully voted their consciences.
And this year’s winner? None other than the Star Trek: The Original Series episode, “Catspaw”! A dark horse candidate!
To top things off, Trek Track wrangler Leo Visentin created a literal and physical Salamander Award trophy via 3D printer, which was then auctioned off at the end of voting in order to raise money for the Georgia chapter of the National Alliance For Mental Illness. There were several contenders vying to take home the trophy. In the end, we had a patron donate $200 to take home the trophy, adding to already generous donations during the voting.
Despite the debates, the air of the affair was fun. And, of course, none of it would be possible without our ringleader, Nick Wright, who not only moderated the panel but managed salamandidate entries and organized the structure of the voting. Sue Kisenwether of Women At Warp, author R Alan Siler, and Kyle Mackenzie Sullivan (its me!) populated the rest of the panel and offered commentary all along the way. Steven Johnson was our votemaster indicating which episode advanced in each voting round. And, we must thank Leo Visentin and Garrett Wang, proprietors of the Trek Track for all they do in allowing us to be our true, goofy, salamander selves.
If you have an amphibian in this fight, or feel passionately that one particular episode or film of Star Trek deserves the top salamander spot, then join us next year for Dragon Con 2026! We promise there will be some surprises =)
If you’d like to know more about Dragon Con or the Trek Track, follow the embedded links and plug in. We will see you next year =)
DRAGON CON TREK TRACK:
Facebook
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PANELISTS:
Nick Wright
Website, Treading Ground, Bluesky
Sue Kisenwether
Subspace Sue, Women At Warp, Trekcore
R Alan Siler
Earth Station Trek, Amazon, Kozmic Press
Kyle Mackenzie Sullivan
Linktree, Screen Door Pictures, IMDB
