January 2026 Award Winners

Independent Shorts Awards is proud to announce the award winners for January 2026.

This month’s selections were chosen from a diverse pool of submissions representing 18 countries, with a total combined runtime of 31:31:18, plus the short scripts.

Final breakdown:

Official Selection – 54.8%

Award Winners – 37.5%

You can find the full list of awardees and finalists in the following sections:

PLATINUM AWARDS

GOLD AWARDS

SILVER AWARDS

BRONZE AWARDS

HONORABLE MENTIONS

SEMI-FINALISTS

All monthly awards (from Platinum to Honorable Mentions) are eligible to be listed on IMDb via our official event page.

2026 Annual Awards

All award-winning projects from this monthly round are now in consideration for the 2026 Annual Awards.

This marks the 7th monthly qualifying season in the current annual cycle, which runs from July 2025 to June 2026. The annual shortlist will be compiled from the winners across all monthly rounds.

Annual nominees will be announced in July 2026 and will be screened at the 8th Annual Independent Shorts Awards, held at Regal LA Live, Downtown Los Angeles, in September 2026.

Executive co-producer Juan Manuel Mármol, director Edduardo Viera, and music composer Marcos Cruz Lloréns, of *Àsaka* (Spain), awarded Best Romantic Short, Best First Time Male Director, and Best Original Score of 2025, at Regal LA Live

Official Trophy

Monthly winners can order the official Independent Shorts Awards trophy, a unique piece of art crafted from pure optical crystal, via this page.

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 inquiries, feel free to contact us at info@independentshortsawards.com.