MARCH 23, 2022 - Virtual Trek Con 3 took place last weekend, becoming home to the inaugural LLAPy Awards. The first Star Trek awards ceremony of its kind, the event was packed with some of your favorite Star Trek personalities, along with a special honor for beloved actor Kenneth Mitchell.

The LLAPy Awards give fans the opportunity to vote on their favorite moments, characters, and episodes in the Star Trek universe. It isn’t just the voting that makes the LLAPy Awards unique. Category suggestions and nominations were sent in by fans, making the ceremony something every Star Trek fan can be a part of. Categories included concepts such as “biggest reveal”, “funniest moment”, and many more. Voters chose the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Emissary” as the best pilot of “legacy” Star Trek (pre-2017). Perhaps without surprise, Kirk and Spock came in as “favorite legacy friendship”. It wasn’t all about classic Trek, however. Fans chose the menacing Badgey (Star Trek: Lower Decks) as the “best antagonist” of 2020-2021.

Setting aside the fan-generated awards for a moment, the ceremony changed pace when Star Trek: Discovery’s Mary Chieffo presented the first ever Kenneth Mitchell Hope Award - to Kenneth Mitchell. With a heartfelt speech, Chieffo gave fans an inside look at what it’s like to be Mitchell’s friend and colleague.

In Mitchell’s acceptance of the award, he shared a sincere, pre-recorded message thanking everyone for their support, love, and kindness.

Mitchell was diagnosed with ALS in 2018. Continuing to act for as long as he was able, his focus shifted to spending time with his family. Along the way, Mitchell’s family grew to include the Star Trek community, leading to an emotional moment for him and the Discovery cast at Star Trek Las Vegas in 2019. At the time, Mitchell had not yet made his diagnosis public.

The full video of the inaugural LLAPy Awards is available to stream on the Virtual Trek Con YouTube channel.