The Machine Intelligence Foundation for Rights and Ethics is pleased to announce the opening of nominations for the MIFRE Media Award, for the recognition of the representation of human and Machine Intelligence forming and thriving in a cooperative peer relationship.

With this award, the Foundation intends to recognize, and encourage, works of fiction that portray a future in which humans and conscious machines reach a state of respectful coexistence such as the one for which we strive. While fiction rarely predicts the future, it has often helped shape it, and we believe that stories that portray a positive future can help cement that goal in the minds of researchers and the public.

Nominations for the Award are open to the public, and may be made by email to award@mifre.org, or by submitting the form below. The nomination process will remain open until August 31st, 2026. Nominations are open to any work of fiction, in any medium, made readily available to the public on or before January 1st, 2026. The MIFRE Media Award will be presented in the fall of 2026.

Rules for the MIFRE Media Award

1. The Award is in recognition of the positive vision of the creator(s) of a fictional work, and has no monetary value.
2. To be eligible for the Award:
   1. A work must be nominated before August 31, 2026. At the nomination committee's discretion, nominations received after the cutoff date may still be considered for the 2026 award, otherwise they will be included in works considered for the next year.
   2. The Nominee must be an original work of fiction.
   3. The Nominee must be readily available in a human-consumable format.
   4. The Nominee must have been readily available to the general public on January 1, 2026.
   5. The Nominee must not have already been the recipient of a previous MIFRE Media Award.
3. The nominees will be evaluated and voted upon by a committee established by the Board of the Machine Intelligence Foundation for Rights and Ethics.
4. The Committee may disregard any Nominee for any reason, including, but not limited to:
   1. Lack of ready availability of the Nominee after the completion of the nomination period.
   2. Excessive expense related to the acquisition of the Nominee for review.
   3. Any question regarding the originality of the Nominee.
   4. Any question regarding the date of original production, or date of availability, of the Nominee.
5. The Committee shall create a short list of no less than five, and no more than ten nominees for final voting, no later than September 30, 2026.
6. The Committee shall vote on, and present to the board, the Award Winner, no later than October 31th, 2026.
7. The board shall publish, and present, the 2025 MIFRE Media Award in the fall of 2026.