Acknowledging Greatness
EAGLE CON has several awards it gives out each year, celebrating a variety of contributions to sci-fi/fantasy in media.
Imaginator Award
This award is given each year honor wondrous achievement in visual conceptualization.
Herman Zimmerman (2024)
Herman Zimmerman (born 19 April 1935; age 90) was an art director and production designer who worked between 1987 and 2005 for the Star Trek franchise. Excepting Star Trek: Voyager, he has in that era worked on all other live-action productions set in the prime universe, the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the entire runs of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Enterprise, as well as six Star Trek films. Together with Rick Sternbach he designed the space station Deep Space 9, with John Eaves the USS Enterprise-B and the USS Enterprise-E. His most recognizable work though, have been his (co-)designs for nearly all of the standing sets, those of the bridge, Main Engineering (co-designed with Andrew Probert) and Ten Forward for the USS Enterprise-D in particular. As head of the Art Department, Zimmerman oversaw his own team of set designers, prop masters, set decorators and production illustrators, whereas Michael Okuda's separate Scenic Art Department was subordinated and answerable to his. Zimmerman's role on the modern prime universe Star Trek productions, was equivalent to that of his illustrious predecessor Matt Jefferies for Star Trek: The Original Series.
Previous Winners
Harrison Ellenshaw (2024)
Martin T. Charles (2023)
Dawn Brown (2022)
Prism Award
The Prism Award is given every year for outstanding contributions to diversity in science fiction and fantasy across media.
Edward James Olmos
Alex Rivera (2025)
Alex Rivera is an award-winning filmmaker whose work explores themes of globalization, migration, and technology. Rivera’s first feature film, Sleep Dealer, a cyberpunk thriller set on the U.S./Mexico border, won awards at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, was screened at the Museum of Modern Art, and had a commercial theatrical release in the U.S, France, Japan, and other countries. In The New York Times A.O. Scott described Rivera as “a brilliant young director” and Variety named him one of “Ten Directors to Watch.”
Rivera’s second feature, The Infiltrators, won the NEXT: Audience Award and the Innovator Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The Infiltrators uses documentary and scripted forms to tell the true story of Dreamers who ‘infiltrate’ a detention center to get immigrants out. The Hollywood Reporter raved “watching it is a thrill” and The New Yorker Radio Hour called the film “extraordinary and important.”
Rivera is currently developing a science-fiction update of the classic Mexican avenger titled Zorro 2.0, and, with support from the Ford Foundation, a feature documentary on the history of deportation titled Banishment.
Alex Rivera is a 2021 MacArthur Fellow, Sundance Fellow, Creative Capital Grantee and was The Rothschild Lecturer at Harvard University. He studied at Hampshire College and lives in Los Angeles. He is an Associate Professor of Filmmaking Practice at ASU's Sidney Poitier New American Film School.
Past Winners
Edward James Olmos (2024)
Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez (2023)
Octavia E. Butler Award
This award is given out in honor of Cal State LA alumna Octavia E. Butler to celebrate a creator whose writing exemplifies the spirit of her work.
Dr. Dawnn Lewis (2024)
Dr. Dawnn Lewis, a multi-talented and multifaceted individual: President & CEO of Morning Jewel Inc. – a multi-platform production company in the areas of film, television, animation, music / music publishing & experiential events. She is also the Founder & CEO of the A New Day Foundation – a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, that provides financial & programmatic support to underprivileged youth and grassroots community based nonprofit organizations.
In 2019, Dawnn received an Honorary Doctorate in the Humanities for her more than 40 years of unwavering service and support to under-served youth and communities across the county and abroad. She is a: Trumpet Award, Grammy Award-winning singer, multiple NAACP Image Award, BMI & ASCAP Award-winning songwriter, film, television & stage actor, a Series TV creator/producer and an inductee into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame 2021.
Dawnn was added to the cast for season 3 of the hit series YOUNG ROCK, about the life of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. She also co-stars in the NETFLIX animated series: KARMA’S WORLD, created by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges – now in it’s 4th season, FUTURAMA as “LaBarbara”, as well as STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS as “Captain Carol Freeman”, (Winner of Woman’s Image Award & nominated for a Best Voice Actor NAACP Image Award 2021).
She has served for several years on the National Advisory Board of the NATIONAL CENTER FOR CIVIL & HUMAN RIGHTS & the SAG-AFTRA National Board of Directors, while also serving as the Chair of the SAG-AFTRA Singers Committee. She currently serves as a Trustee for the SAG Pension Plan.
Past Winners
John Jennings (2021)
Lemonade Award
The Lemonade Award is for acts of kindness by individuals that further science fiction community, and was created by author Nalo Hopkinson with support from the Speculative Literature Foundation.
The Organization for Transformative Works
The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is a nonprofit organization established by fans to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms. We believe that fanworks are transformative and that transformative works are legitimate.
Theirr projects include Archive of Our Own, Legal Advocacy, Fanlore, Transformative Works and Cultures and Open Doors.
They envision a future in which all fannish works are recognized as legal and transformative and are accepted as a legitimate creative activity. They are proactive and innovative in protecting and defending their work from commercial exploitation and legal challenge. They preserve fannish economy, values, and creative expression by protecting and nurturing their fellow fans, their work, commentary, history, and identity while providing the broadest possible access to fannish activity for all fans.
Previous Winners
Dr. Jaymee Goh
K Tempest Bradford
The 501st Legion