🥁Drum roll, please! 🥁

Thank you so much to everyone who had time to nominate stories—this post literally can’t happen without you!

Just like last year, we were incredibly lucky and honored to have several new FoLCs join the fandom, including some writers! WOO!

We had 67 eligible stories this year, and a total of 30 stories made the shortlist across 16 story-specific categories. You all nominated almost half of the eligible stories! That’s amazing!

For those who were here last year or don’t care about the nitty gritty, feel free to scroll right on down to the Nominee Shortlists. For the rest of you, here is my very wordy explanation from last year about how the shortlists are compiled so that you can fully follow along with the nomination process and see why some categories have different numbers of stories/people/art!

The Kerth Awards have long aimed to have five nominations per category (which is why we encourage voters to submit five nominations each)! But, as the K-Com is reminded every year, it’s never quite as simple as taking the top five stories/people/art, and calling that the shortlist. So, to better honor this year's somewhat shorter list of entries, we decided to adjust the nominations count down to typically four stories per category. This allows the stories to still shine because it makes it just a bit more difficult to get nominated.

Because of this, you’ll see that this year’s categories have a range of nominee tallies—three or four for the most part and the odd five . . . even a whopping 7 in one singular instance!

At the end of this list, there’s more information on voting and the ceremony and more fun stuff, so don’t stop scrolling after the categories shortlists below!

📣Without further ado, we are thrilled to present your chosen 2026 Kerth Nominees: 📣

Best Micro-Short Story (1-5kB)
Computer Troubles by Queen of the Capes – 1 kB (149 words) – Story
Lights and Music by bakasi – 4 kB (702 words) – Story
Pancakes and Power Outages by 90stvfangirl – 3 kB (419 words) – Story | Story (AO3)

Best Super-Short Story (6-10kB)
The Lab Incident (2025SF for blg1987) by BlindPassenger – 8 kB (1,171 words) – Story
Nope by SuperBek – 7 kB (1,229 words) – Story
Youngest Reporter (2025SF for 90sTVFanGirl) by Queen of the Capes – 6 kB (938 words) – Story

Best Short Story (11-50kB)
A Bird in Hand (2025SF for kSaraSara) by Blg1987 – 44 kB (8,105 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
The Costume Party: A Choose Your Own Adventure Fic by Queen of the Capes – 33 kB (6,400 words) – Story
Falling for You (2025SF for JadedEvie) by kSaraSara – 19 kB (3,475 words) – Story
Just Us This Time (2025SF for LoveTVFan) by Kathryn84 – 25 kB (4,377 words) – Story
Sanctuary (2025SF for aPurpleOakie) by Kaylle – 35 kB (6,363 words) – Story

Best Mid-Length Story (51-200kB)
Fade to Black: Pilot (The Interview) by lovetvfan – 155 kB (29,402 words) – Story (nFanfic) | Story (AO3)
The Proposal by JadedEvie – 95 kB (16,522 words) – Story
The Ruse by Socomama – 183 kB (32,739 words) – Story (AO3)
Sleight of Hand (2025SF for QueenoftheCapes) by JadedEvie – 137 kB (24,937 words) – Story

Best Long Story (201+kB)
But Who's Got You? (2025SF for Amanda K) by LoveTVFan – 230 kB (43,755 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Found by SuperBek – 228 kB (42,208 words) – Story
Stuck in the Dark by aPurpleOkie – 409 kB (71,368 words) – Story
When You're Not Strong by lovetvfan – 369 kB (68,686 words) – Story (nFanfic) | Story (AO3)

Best Comedy Story
Cacophony (2025SF for BlueOwl) by Idontknowwhatthatmeans5678 / SonicMessiah – 58 kB (10,418 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Nope by SuperBek – 7 kB (1,229 words) – Story
A Whole New World (2025SF for BlindPassenger) by 90stvfangirl – 11 kB (1,924 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Youngest Reporter (2025SF for 90sTVFanGirl) by Queen of the Capes – 6 kB (938 words) – Story

Best Dramatic Story
A Bird in Hand (2025SF for kSaraSara) by Blg1987 – 44 kB (8,105 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
But Who's Got You? (2025SF for Amanda K) by LoveTVFan – 230 kB (43,755 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Found by SuperBek – 228 kB (42,208 words) – Story
If You Only Knew by Carrie Rene – 272 kB (51,283 words) – Story

Best Waffy Story
Cravings (2025SF for Idon’tknowwhatthatmeans5678) by aPurpleOkie – 12 kB (2,065 words) – Story
Lights and Music by bakasi – 4 kB (702 words) – Story
The Proposal by JadedEvie – 95 kB (16,522 words) – Story
The Ruse by Socomama – 183 kB (32,739 words) – Story (AO3)

Best Revelation
Falling for You (2025SF for JadedEvie) by kSaraSara – 19 kB (3,475 words) – Story
A Whole New World (2025SF for BlindPassenger) by 90stvfangirl – 11 kB (1,924 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Youngest Reporter (2025SF for 90sTVFanGirl) by Queen of the Capes – 6 kB (938 words) – Story

Best Episode Adaptation (rewrite/fix-it/in-betweenie)
Fade to Black: Pilot (The Interview) by lovetvfan – 155 kB (29,402 words) – Story (nFanfic) | Story (AO3)
Gifts Really Do Solve Everything (2025SF for Bakasi) by Darth Michael – 36 kB (6,700 words) – Story
IBM: Signs by JadedEvie – 30 kB (5,397 words) – Story
Something Worth Fighting For by Abigail Ellen Kent – 9 kB (1,657 words) – Story | Story (AO3)

Best Elseworlds/AU Story
A Bird in Hand (2025SF for kSaraSara) by Blg1987 – 44 kB (8,105 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
But Who's Got You? (2025SF for Amanda K) by LoveTVFan – 230 kB (43,755 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Found by SuperBek – 228 kB (42,208 words) – Story

Best Kiss
110 Kisses: This Isn't Fair by KSaraSara – 9 kB (1,606 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Fade to Black: Pilot (The Interview) by lovetvfan – 155 kB (29,402 words) – Story (nFanfic) | Story (AO3)
The Proposal by JadedEvie – 95 kB (16,522 words) – Story

Best Original Character/Supporting Character
Jamie Evans: But Who's Got You? (2025SF for Amanda K) by LoveTVFan – 230 kB (43,755 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Mayson Drake: A Different Perspective (2025SF for CaliopeWayne) by Krista / FragmentedSandwiches – 8 kB (1,479 words) – Story
Jonathan and Martha: Found by SuperBek – 228 kB (42,208 words) – Story

Best Challenge Response
A Bird in Hand (2025SF for kSaraSara) by Blg1987 – 44 kB (8,105 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
But Who's Got You? (2025SF for Amanda K) by LoveTVFan – 230 kB (43,755 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Cacophony (2025SF for BlueOwl) by Idontknowwhatthatmeans5678 / SonicMessiah – 58 kB (10,418 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Falling for You (2025SF for JadedEvie) by kSaraSara – 19 kB (3,475 words) – Story
Sleight of Hand (2025SF for QueenoftheCapes) by JadedEvie – 137 kB (24,937 words) – Story

Best Nfic Story
In the Depths of My Eyes by Bakasi – 33 kB (6,148 words) - Story (nFanfic)
Fade to Black: Pilot (The Interview) by lovetvfan – 155 kB (29,402 words) – Story (nFanfic) | Story (AO3)
I'm Right Here by Krista / FragmentedSandwiches – 10 kB (1,650 words) – Story (AO3)

Best New Author
Abigail Ellen Kent
Blg1987
Idontknowwhatthatmeans5678 / SonicMessiah
Krista / FragmentedSandwiches
aPurpleOkie

Best Overall Story
But Who's Got You? (2025SF for Amanda K) by LoveTVFan – 230 kB (43,755 words) – Story | Story (AO3)
Fade to Black: Pilot (The Interview) by lovetvfan – 155 kB (29,402 words) – Story (nFanfic) | Story (AO3)
Found by SuperBek – 228 kB (42,208 words) – Story
The Proposal by JadedEvie – 95 kB (16,522 words) – Story
The Ruse by Socomama – 183 kB (32,739 words) – Story (AO3)
Sleight of Hand (2025SF for QueenoftheCapes) by JadedEvie – 137 kB (24,937 words) – Story
Stuck in the Dark by aPurpleOkie – 409 kB (71,368 words) – Story

Best Commenter/Feedback Giver
90stvfangirl
Bakasi
DarthMichael
JadedEvie
Songbird

Best Original Fanart
TikTok Videos by 90stvfangirl – Fanart
Podcast by FoLCs Forever – Fanart
Music Video: Miss Independent by lovetvfan – Fanart


Voting will open THIS COMING SUNDAY, April 5th 0:00 UTC and close two weeks after on Sunday, April 19th 23:59 UTC—there will be a separate post on that when voting opens!

The way we have things set up and automated (YAY MICHAEL FOR AUTOMATING), only Annette and our neutral third-party verifier will see the votes. The K-Com has strong-armed asked our FoLCdom treasurer Kathy Brown to help us in this capacity as well.

In years past, there has been a rule of sorts that no story shall be allowed to have more than a certain number of spots on the ballot. K-Com discussed for a long time a few years ago and decided not to resurrect this rule. But given the phenomenal (and unexpected by the K-Com) sweep by What the Heart Wants two years ago, we’ve decided that it’s warranted to bring back this rule and revamp it a bit—with the important distinction that we’ve decided to limit SOLE wins to three awards (not including Best Overall) rather than ballot slots so that FoLCs will feel their nominations were heard, and the authors/creators get their due accolades of the nomination—anything more than three will be converted to a tie with the runner up.

All winners will be announced at the Kerth Ceremony.

And speaking of the ceremony! Just like last year, we’ll post a poll for you to vote on the most convenient time frame in and around Saturday, April 25th for the ceremony. Stay tuned!

Keep your eyes on this forum for more information about ceremony information (when, where, and how you can join in!) and an official announcement post when the voting officially starts!

And, lastly, upholding tradition, we also humbly offer you a box of pins, a la LabRat, who always "bemoaned" the voting decisions were so hard she'd need to resort to closing her eyes and aiming a pin at a corkboard.

📌📍📌📍📌📍📌📍📌📍📌📍📌📍
(oops the box spilled)
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Have a question? Ask it here! Or you can PM any of the K-Com members or reach out on Discord too! You can also send an email to us here: Kcom@kerthawards.com

In order to help you find all things Kerth for this year, we’ve created a TOC for all the 🏆TOC for Kerth Awards 2026 Posts🏆.

The Kerth Committee
(KSaraSara, Michael, lovetvfan, and Evie)

Edit 2026-04-03: fixed length and category for The Costume Party by Queen of the Capes

Last edited by Darth Michael; 04/03/26 12:22 PM.
Kerth season is here!! Get all the deets here:
🏆TOC for Kerth Awards 2026 Posts🏆

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