Indie Short Fest Announces January 2026 Award Winners

We are pleased to unveil the award winners of January 2026 edition.

The full list is presented below in two sections:

This round featured a highly competitive pool, with submissions from 26 countries, totalling 37:56:42 of runtime, plus a large number of short scripts.

Submission Breakdown:

Official Selection – 49.8%

Nominations – 30.2%

Award Winners – 18.7% (including Outstanding Achievement Awards and Honorable Mentions)

All nominations and awards are eligible for listing on IMDb via our official event page.

Path to the Annual Awards

All nominated and award-winning projects from this monthly round are now in contention for the Annual Awards.

The annual shortlist is drawn from the 12 monthly qualifying seasons of the current cycle, running October 2025 through September 2026.

All annual nominees will be screened during the 2026 Annual Awards event at Regal LA Live in Los Angeles.

Official Trophy

Monthly nominees and award winners are invited to order the Indie Short Fest Official Trophy, a handcrafted piece made from pure optical crystal.

Please note: The official trophies are presented exclusively to Annual Award Winners during the Annual Awards Showcases. Monthly honorees may order theirs directly. Order yours here.

For any questions, feel free to reach out to us at info@indieshortfest.com.