Image by EosFoxx

Nominations for the 2017 Ursa Major Awards have begun and will continue until February 15. Click here to participate.

To be eligible, a work must include a non-human being given human attributes (anthropomorphic), which can be mental and/or physical (for example the intelligent rabbits in Watership Down for the former, and Bugs Bunny for the latter.) Simply including an animal character is not sufficient to qualify. Non-animal characters such as Wall-E are also anthropomorphic.

The awards are selected by a two-stage process of nominating and voting. Members of the public send in up to five nominations in each of the categories. The top five nominees in each category (more in case of a tie) are then presented on a final ballot for a public vote.

The twelve categories are: Motion Picture, Dramatic Short Work or Series, Novel, Short Fiction, Other Literary Work, Graphic Novel, Comic Strip, Magazine, Nonfiction, Published Illustration, Website, and Game.

Many nominations are likely to come from the 2017 Recommended Anthropomorphic Reading List, which has been built up through prior recommendations. However, inclusion on the List is not necessary for nomination if a work is otherwise eligible; first published during January to December 2017.

The final ballot will be announced on March 1 and voting will take place until the end of March.

The ballots will be counted, the trophies made, and the results will be announced at the award presentations in Surfer’s Paradise, Queensland, at FurDU 2018, scheduled for May 4-6.

[Thanks to Mark Hepworth for the story.]