The 2018 Ursa Major Awards final ballot is open for voting from March 1 to March 31 on the UMA website.

The winners will be announced at a presentation ceremony at AnthrOhio, to be held in Columbus, OH from May 23-26.

The 2018 Nominees

Best Motion Picture
Live-action or animated feature-length movies.

• Avengers: Infinity War (Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo; April 27)
• Isle of Dogs (Directed by Wes Anderson; April 13)
• Mary Poppins Returns (Directed by Rob Marshall; December 19)
• Peter Rabbit (Directed by Will Gluck; February 9)
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman; December 14)

Best Dramatic Series or Short Work
TV series or one-shots, advertisements or short videos.

• Aggretsuko (Directed by Rarecho, episodes 1-10)
• Bojack Horseman (Directed by John Aoshima, Dana Terrace; Season 1, August 12 to December 2)
• Brush: A Fox Tale (Directed by Willi Anton and Faustina Arriola; May 12)
• DuckTales (Directed by John Aoshima, Matthew Humphreys, and Dana Terrace, Episode 10 to 30)
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Directed by Denny Lu and Mike Myhre, Season 8 Episode 1 to My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever)

Best Novel
Written works of 40,000 words or more. Serialized novels qualify only for the year that the final chapter is published.

• Cosmic Lotus, by Bernard Doove (CreateSpace; June 26)
• Once A Dog, by Shaune Lafferty Webb. (Jaffa Books; May 7)
• Small World, by Gre7g Luterman. (Thurston Howl Publications; April 23)
• The Snake’s Song, by Mary E. Lowd. (ShadowSpinners Press; March 13)
• Voyage of the Dogs, by Greg van Eekhout. (HarperCollins; September)

Best Short Fiction
Stories less than 40,000 words, poetry, and other short Written works.

• The Beating of Wild Hooves, by Dwale. (In CLAW, volume 1, July) Mature Audiences
• Come To Todor!, by Fred Patten. (In Exploring New Places, FurPlanet Productions; July 5)
• A Legend in His Own Time, by Fred Patten. (In What the Fox?!, Thurston Howl Publications; March 6)
• Of Starwhals and Spaceships, by Mary E. Lowd. (In Daily Science Fiction; January 31)
• Uri’s Bitterweet Story, by Uranium 235. (CrossTime Cafe; December 9)

Best Other Literary Work
Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and serialized online stories.

• CLAW Volume 1, edited by K.C. Alpinus. (FurPlanet Productions, July 5)
• Heat 15, produced by Dark End, Teagan Gavet. (Sofawolf Press, July 5) Mature Audiences
• ROAR 9, edited by Mary E. Lowd. (FurPlanet Productions, July)
• Tales From the Guild: World Tour, edited by Ocean Tigrox. (FurPlanet Productions, story anthology, July)
• What the Fox!, edited by Fred Patten. (Thurston Howl Publications; March 6) both trade paperback and deluxe editions

Best Non-Fiction Work
Includes documentaries, opinion pieces, and news articles.

• The Day the Fandom Died – November 12th, 2018 – Loss of a creator and a super fan (Rooview, November 25)
• Furries Assist, help lead to arrest of Levi “SnakeThing” Simmons (Rooview, October 28)
• Furries | Down the Rabbit Hole (Created by Fredrik Knudsen, August 13)
• Fursuit History (Culturally F’d, videos; parts 1 to 5, February 16 to December 11)
• This is Life with Lisa Ling: Furry Nation (CNN, video; November 18)

Best Graphic Story
Includes comic books, and serialized online stories.

• The Dreamkeepers, by David & Liz Lillie (Internet; January 5 [#386] to December 15 [#432])
• DreamKeepers Prelude, by David & Liz Lillie (Internet; January 5 [#394] to December 15 [#428])
• Lackadaisy, by Tracy J. Butler (internet; Lackadaisy Liaison to Lackadaisy Overdrive)
• Rising Sand, by Ty Dunitz and Jenn Lee (internet; March 7 [RS057] to September 12 [RS083])
• Scurry, by Mac Smith. (Internet; January 4 to December 31)

Best Comic Strip
Newspaper-style strips, including those with ongoing arcs.

• Carry On, by Kathy Garrison Kellogg (Internet; January 1 to December 31)
• Doc Rat, by Jenner (Internet; January 1 to December 31)
• Freefall, by Mark Stanley. (Internet; #3065 to 3221)
• Part Time Dragons, by Spike Parra and Donna Vu (Internet; March 28 to December 30)
• The Whiteboard, by Doc Nickel. (Internet, January to December)

Best Magazine
Edited collections of creative and/or informational works by various people, professional or amateur, published in print or online in written, pictorial or audio-visual form.

• Culturally F’d (YouTube videos, Sonic OC Rusty Knucklesfur to Fursuit History Part 5: Cosplay)
• Dogpatch Press, edited by Patch Packrat. (Internet; January 2 to December 31)
• Flayrah, edited by GreenReaper, Sonious, and Dronon. (Internet; January 1 to December 31)
• Moms of Furries (YouTube videos, Moms of Furries Our First Con to How Do You Tell Them Start With the Art)
• South Afrifur Pawdcast (You Tube videos, January to December)

Best Published Illustration
Illustrations for books, magazines, convention program books, cover art for such, coffee-table portfolios.

• Ashley Ash, Will You Be My Valentine February 14
• Tracy Butler, Murder in Surfer’s Paradise, cover of FurDU 2018 convention souvenir book, May 6
• Caraid, Pirates!, website header for Furry Weekend Atlanta 2019, April 12
• Demicoeur, cover for Exploring New Places edited by Fred Patten, FurPlanet Productions, July 5
• Teagan Gavet, cover for CLAW Volume 1, edited by K.C. Alpinus,FurPlanet Productions, July 5

Best Game
Computer or console games, role-playing games, board games.

• Deltarune: Chapter 1 (Developer: Toby Fox, October 31)
• Detective Pikachu (English release) (Developer: Creatures, Publisher: Nintendo and The Pokémon Company; March 23)
• Ghost of a Tale (Developer and Publisher: SeithCG; March 13)
• Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! (Developer: Game Freak, Publisher(s): The Pokémon Company and Nintendo, November 16)
• Spyro Reignited Trilogy (Developer, Toys for Bob, Publisher, Activision, November 13)

Best Website
Online collections of art, stories, and other creative and/or informational works. Includes galleries, story archives, directories, blogs, and personal sites.

• e621.net (art, discussions, etc.)
• Furry Writers’ Guild (Supporting, informing, elevating, and promoting quality anthropomorphic fiction and its creators)
• Inkbunny (furry art community)
• Lackadaisy.com
• WikiFur (furry fandom encyclopedia)

Best Fursuit
Anthropomorphic costumes.

• Penelope, made by Dludnerad (AKA Tamara Carmichael) and Paul Kidd, owner Paul Kidd.
• Ravtrag, made by Suit-a-dile.
• SonicFox, worn at Esports Award. Costume by Yamishizen/Fursuit Enterprise.
• Zabivaka, FIFA World Cup Mascot 2018

Note: Kyell Gold withdrew from consideration for the Novel and Short Story categories. He wrote on his blog Fur Affinity:

…There is precedent in other awards for frequent winners stepping back. One of the people on the Ursa Major committee told me that in a musical award, when someone wins three years in a row, they are retired from that category by the award. That’s not how the Ursas work: they have been very hands-off and admirably resistant to public opinion. When Stan Sakai won the Best Comic award multiple years running, they assured people that in time, other comics would win, and they were right. In response to my multiple wins, they have assured people that, in time, other authors will win. I have no doubt that they are correct, given the profusion of talent in the fandom. In fact, each of the last two years I have been convinced I would not win one of the two awards (perhaps neither). But I have also observed that it would probably be better for the writing scene if that day comes sooner rather than later.

Ultimately, what it comes down to is this: I’ve won a dozen awards over seven years. I know you guys love me and my books. 🙂 But I’d like to help the fandom’s literary scene mature, and part of that is showcasing more of the authors that are doing really good work. My name’s already up there in the lists; let’s see some of the other people….