Keen Awards 2025: Nominations

[Quillax]

It's the moment you've all been waiting for! It may have come a bit late, but better late than never! Celebrate the keen works and people of 2025 by nominating them! It works just like the previous nominations, though there a couple differences this time:

-A new category, "Best Update to a Mod", has been added, due to a discussion regarding updated mods. If a mod got a release before 2025 and then an update in 2025, it should go to that category instead of either one of the first two categories. The exception to this are mods that had a demo release in a previous year, but not a full release until 2025.
-A one-shot category, "Best Work of the Hiatus", has also been added, as a way to acknowledge the keen work made back in the time span of 2005-2018, when the Keen Awards was in hiatus. For many years, there has been the promise of doing a Keen Awards event for the 2010s, but as we're halfway into the 2020s, I feel like the ship has sailed. At least with this category, a chance has been given to works made in nearly all of the 2010s, plus the middle-to-late 2000s.

If you have any suggestions or feedback (e.g. if you have any comments regarding the new categories), then please post them.

No deadline for nominations has been set for now, though it'll probably be in early 2026.

1: Programming

1.1: Best Vorticon Mod (incl. level packs)

• Inside the Vorticon Hyve by Vortlike

1.2: Best Galaxy/Dreams Mod (ditto)

1.3: Best Fangame/Other Mod

1.4: Best Vorticon Level (from any 2025 Vorticon mod or level pack)

1.5: Best Galaxy/Dreams Level (from any 2025 Galaxy/Dreams mod or level pack)

• Pyramid of Armageddon (Level 12) by Gridlock from O-Mega-Matic

1.6: Best Fangame/Other Mod Level (from any 2025 fangame or other mod)

1.7: Best Tool

1.8: Best Update to a Mod (any mod released/finished before 2025 but updated in 2025, level packs incl.)

• Foray in the Forest v2.0a by Nisaba and K1n9_Duk3

2: Fan Art

2.1: Best Graphical Artwork (e.g. an individual piece of art or a series of comics)

2.2: Best Narrative (fanfic, story of a fangame/mod/comic etc.)

2.3: Best Music (e.g. an individual remix or the soundtrack of a work)

2.4: Best Animation

2.5: Best Non-Computerized Art (pencil drawing, sculpture, cosplay etc.)

2.6: Best Gameplay Video (speedruns, playthroughs etc.)

• Foray in the Forest v2.0 playthrough (part #1, #2, #3) by Emmfoolery

3: Web

3.1: Best Website

3.2: Best Online Entertainment (e.g. games with online support and browser games)

3.3: Online Community Service Recognition (for the hard-working admins, moderators and website owners)

4: Miscellaneous

4.1: Keenest Person of the Year

4.2: Really Keen Stuff (something great that came out of the blue)

4.3: Most Promising Project

• Prison Escape by SodiumtheGlitcher

4.4: Best Work of the Hiatus (anything made in 2005-2018)

• Episode 59 - Underworld Ultimate! by Bernie

[SodiumtheGlitcher]

Here are my current nominations:

1.1: Inside the Vorticon Hyve by Vortlike

1.5: Pyramid of Armageddon by Gridlock from O-Mega-Matic

1.8: Foray in the Forest v2.0 by Nisaba, K1n9_Duk3, and team

4.3: Prison Escape by me

I'll probably add more later.

[Nospike]

I wanna nominate Keen 59: Underworld Ultimate for best hiatus work this mod completely blew my mind when it came out and it still does today l. From a technical and artistic perspective it's one of the best mods ever.

Wonder where Bernie is these days...

[troublesomekeen]

Howdy
For 2.6: Best Gameplay Video
I'd like to nominate Emmfoolery for a three-part Fluffy in the Forefront 2.0 playthrough/stream
which can be viewed here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

I wanna nominate Keen 59: Underworld Ultimate for best hiatus work

Well said. I second the motion. I might not appreciate drunkeen, but it's a desert island mod for me providing i get to bring 10 mods

[NY00123]

Looks like two categories, "Best Update to a Mod" and "Best Work of the Hiatus", have been added as a consequence of that discussion started me in the Keen Awards 2024 winners thread; Albeit I seemed to originally start from an idea hinting at a combination of these, i.e., a comeback following a quite long hiatus, say 10+ years long.

"Best Work of the Hiatus" is indeed a good chance to to bring older unmodified contents from 2005-2018 a chance; Albeit one question coming to mind is if there should be a single category for a total of 14 years, or maybe it can be split. Either way, the contents had already been released, and what's still available for download may be checked.

[Mobiethian]

My current nominations:

1.2 Keen Dreams Gold Edition by Szemigi
2.3 Again, same as above
4.3 Prison Escape by SoduimtheGlitcher

More may come eventually.

[K1n9_Duk3]

1.2 Keen Dreams Gold Edition by Szemigi
2.3 Again, same as above

Keen Dreams Gold was released last year, so it should go into the update category. The whole point of the update category was that new mods shouldn't compete against mere updates.

Unless the update introduced a completely new music track and you want to nominate that track, it shouldn't be nominated for best music 2025 because none of the music was composed this year.

Or maybe I misunderstood the rules of these nominations.

[Mobiethian]

I think it was me that misunderstood the rules. heh No worries, I'll reevaluate my choices and re-post them.