2025 Sherlock Watson Awards

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The core of Sherlock is the researchers.

Every result we deliver comes from people who analyze real code, find what others miss, and push teams to fix it before deployment.

2025 was a major year for Web3 security research. Protocols grew more sophisticated, expectations rose, and the work translated directly into safer launches across the ecosystem.

To recognize the Watsons who set that standard, we’ve developed 11 prestigious awards that recognize diligence, expertise, and impact.

Without further ado, here are the 2025 Sherlock Watson Award Winners:

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2025 Watson of the Year

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Watson of the Year is awarded to the security researcher who had the greatest impact on Sherlock in 2025.

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Winner: 0xSimao

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‍Simao was absolutely unbelievable in 2025. Of the 13 contests he participated in, he won 7 of them and was on the podium for 2 more. The individual stats speak for themselves. We are proud of the work Simao has done with both Sherlock and Blackthorn.

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2025 Rookie of the Year

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Rookie of the Year is awarded to the Watson who competed in an audit contest for the first time in 2025 and had the greatest impact.

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Winner: 1AutumnLeaf777

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1AutumnLeaf777 competed for the first time this year, is now ranked 17th on Shelrock’s leaderboard, and has already achieved the prestigious title of Lead Senior Watson. They won their first contest, Brevis Pico ZKVM, finding 7 highs and 4 solo highs. We can’t wait to see the impact 1AutumnLeaf777 will have in 2026.

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Runner Ups

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X77

Started this year and is now ranked 44th on Sherlock’s leaderboard. Their performance this year included 1 contest win.

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AnomX

Started this year and is now ranked 42nd on Sherlock’s leaderboard. AnomX participated in 3 contests and finished in the top 10 in all of them.

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2025 Contest Win of the Year

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Contest Win of the Year is awarded to the Watson who had the most significant single contest win. This is a combination of the contest’s prestige and the total rewards won.

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Winner: Alexfilippov314

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Alexfilippov314 won the Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade Contest, identifying multiple highs on his way to $151,669 in rewards. While this was not the single largest payout on Sherlock this year, the importance of identifying high-severity vulnerabilities in a major Ethereum upgrade is extremely significant. This is also the second Ethereum upgrade contest that Alex has won in a row, an outstanding accomplishment that we must recognize.

Runner Ups

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Gjaldon

G won the ZetaChain Cross Chain contest, earning $93,611 and beating Watson of the year 0xSimao in the process.

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LZ_security 

LZ_security had the single largest payout of 2025 for winning the Babylon Chain Launch

Contest, earning $157,894.

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2025 Contest King

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Contest King is awarded to the Watson who earned the most rewards from contests in 2025.

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Winner: 0xSimao

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It will come as no surprise that our Watson of the Year, 0xSimao, earned the most from contests in 2025. Simao brought in a staggering $315,084 across all contests this year.

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Runner Ups

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Hash

$174,532 earned in 2025.

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LZ_security 

$166,392 earned in 2025.

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2025 Highest Impact

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The Highest Impact award is given to the Watson who identified the most high-severity vulnerabilities in contests in 2025.

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Winner: Newspacexyz

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Newspacexyz found a total of 53 valid high-severity vulnerabilities in contests in 2025. On Sherlock, we don’t use the “critical” classification during contests. Highs are the most significant vulnerabilities found. Finding 53 highs is an incredible achievement in securing the future of Web3.

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Runner Ups

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0xSimao

43 valid highs found.

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Zxriptor 

38 valid highs found.

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2025 Midfield Master

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The Midfield Master award is given to the Watson who identified the most medium-severity vulnerabilities in contests in 2025.

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Winner: 0xSimao

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The Midfield Master is another testament to 0xSimao’s dominance in 2025. He found 70 valid medium-severity vulnerabilities, 27 more than the 2nd-place finisher. 

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Runner Ups

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Silver_eth

43 valid highs found.

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0xc0ffEE 

42 valid highs found.

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2025 Sharpshooter of the Year

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The Sharpshooter of the Year is given to the Watson who has the highest issues ratio with a minimum of 10 valid findings. The "issues ratio" is the ratio between total submissions and valid vulnerabilities identified.

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Winner: Panprog

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Panprog once again shows why he is still at the top of Sherlock’s leaderboard, with an issues ratio of .85 in 2025, correctly identifying 28 vulnerabilities.

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Runner Ups

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Durov

Durov achieved the same issues ratio as Panprog (.85), but only had 17 valid findings to Panprog’s 28.

hgrano

hgrano achieved an .83 issues ratio with 10 valid findings.

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2025 Lone Wolf

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The Lone Wolf award is given to the Watson who had the most solo findings in 2025. A solo is a valid vulnerability that no one else in the contest identified.

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Winner: 0xSimao

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With 400+ researchers competing in every contest, solo vulnerabilities are quite rare. 0xSimao identified a staggering 30 solo vulnerabilities this year. To put this further into perspective, Simao had more solos this year than many other Sherlock Lead Senior Watsons had total valid vulnerabilities.

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Runner Ups

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Grandchildrice

Grandchildrice had 17 solos in 2025.

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CertiK

CertiK had 15 solos in 2025.

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2025 Marathon Champion

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The Marathon Champion award is given to the Watson who logged the most contest days in 2025. 

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Winner: Sakibcy

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At 506 contest days, Sakibcy was competing in at least 1 contest every day, and many times more than 1. This award is an incredible achievement in perseverance and dedication to security.

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Runner Ups

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0xpetern

0xpetern logged 473 contest days.

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Smacaud

Smacaud logged 428 contest days.

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2025 Most Improved

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The Most Improved award is given to the Watson who made the biggest jump on the leaderboard and improved their auditing skills the most in 2025.

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Winner: LZ_security

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Many times, “most improved” awards are handed out to lesser performers to make them feel better. That is 100% not the case with our Most Improved award, nor with LZ_securty. LZ had an incredible year, moving from outside the top 1,000 all the way to 5th on the Sherlock leaderboard. LZ had a truly standout year that included 2 contest wins and the single highest payout of the year at $157,894.

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Runner Ups

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Zark

Zark moved up from outside the top 1,000 to 9th on the Sherlock leaderboard.

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Dimulski

Dimulski moved up from outside the top 1,000 to 11th on the Sherlock leaderboard.

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2025 Team of the Year

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The Team of the Year award is given to the team of researchers who had the biggest impact on Sherlock in 2025. Teams compete under a single Sherlock account, but are comprised of multiple researchers.

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Winner: Obsidian

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Obsidian is an auditing team comprised of 0xSpearmint and 0xJuaan. Together as Obsidian, they are ranked 12th on the Sherlock leaderboard and had 4 contest wins in 2025. It’s great to see talented researchers coming together to provide higher-quality security to the ecosystem.

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Runner Ups

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EgisSecurity

EgisSecurity is currently ranked 8th and had 2 contest wins in 2025. EgisSecurity is comprised of nmirchev8 & deth.

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Push0

Push0 is currently ranked 16th and had 1 contest win in 2025. Push0 is comprised of thekmj & oot2k.

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Conclusion

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The 2025 Sherlock Watson Awards stand as a powerful testament to the brilliant individuals and teams who form the most crucial line of defense in Web3. This year’s winners and finalists embody the diligence, expertise, and impact that define elite security research.

As Web3 protocols grow in complexity and ambition, the role of these researchers becomes ever more critical.

We are profoundly grateful to every Watson who participated in 2025. Congratulations to our award winners on an extraordinary year and thank you for your dedication.

The bar has been raised. We cannot wait to see what you all achieve in 2026.