Image by EosFoxx
The 2014 Ursa Major Awards for the Best Anthropomorphic Literature and Art were announced at Morphicon 2015 in Columbus, Ohio on May 1.
The Ursa Major Awards are a popular-vote award: 2,851 ballots were cast in 11 categories. The winners and runners-up are as follows:
Best Motion Picture
- Guardians of the Galaxy (Directed by James Gunn, July 31)
Best Dramatic Series or Short Work
- Furry Force (CollegeHumor and Smiley Guy Studios, parts 1 and 2)
Best Novel
- Off the Beaten Path, by Rukis. (FurPlanet Productions, July 4)
Best Short Fiction
- When a Cat Loves a Dog, by Mary E. Lowd. (in Five Fortunes, FurPlanet Productions, January 16)
Best Other Literary Work
- Blacksad: Amarillo, by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido. (graphic novel, English version, Dark Horse Press, October 8)
Best Graphic Story
- My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, (IDW Publishing, issue 15 to 26)
Best Comic Strip
- Housepets!, by Rick Griffin (Internet, January 1 to December 31)
Best Magazine
- In-Fur-Nation, edited by Rod O’Riley (Internet, January 1 to December 30)
Best Published Illustration
- SabretoothedErmine, cover of Midwest FurFest 2014 convention book, (December 4)
Best Game
- Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (Developer: Game Freak, Publishers: Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, November 21)
Best Website
- FurAffinity (furry art specialty site; January 1 to December 31)
[Thanks to Fred Patten for the story.]
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Are these the Furrys?
Basically.
I appreciate how a possibly marginalized group that doesn’t see much love from mainstream awards has set up its own award to showcase the best of its community.
That’s the sensible and creative way to go about it.
Congratulations to all the winners and their fans.
Absolutely. Good for them.
As for what Peace and Nigel say, the UM are not a widely supported award. In fact, I’d hazard a guess that most furries have never heard of them. They are run by one of the larger furry cons, and that’s about the only place you’d hear about them. Unlike SF fandom, which (until recently, at least), had some modicum of solidarity at the core, furry fandom is a Holy Roman Empire of tiny principalities, dukedoms, electorates, duchies, kingdoms, baronies, marches and city states that largely don’t interact. It is virtually impossible to find focal points … except My Little Pony.
The Sad Puppies are coming for the Ursa Majors next!
The Ursa Major Awards have been presented every year since 2001. They are administered by an independent committee, the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA), not any one furry convention. The ALAA deliberately asks a different annual convention each year to host the presentations, to keep the UMAs from becoming associated with any one convention. The awards were presented at the Morphicon in Columbus, Ohio this year; at the CaliFur in Irvine, California last year, and at the Anthrocon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania the year before that. What The Fur in Montreal, Quebec has already been selected to host next year’s presentations.
The UMAs got 2,851 votes from around the world this year. If they are “not a widely supported award. In fact, I’d hazard a guess that most furries have never heard of them,” what must this say about the size of furry fandom in general? Furry fandom is still new and small enough that each convention gets many new attendees each year who have never been to a furry convention before; and yes, these new fans have probably never heard of the UMAs before.