The Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA) announced the 2011 nominees for the Ursa Major Awards on March 15th, the day that voting for the final awards opened. Voting will be open until May 4th, then the winners will be announced at a ceremony at CaliFur.8 in Irvine on Saturday, June 2nd. What, you haven’t heard of the Ursa Major Awards? Shame on you! Here’s what they say on their web site: “More formally known as the Annual Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Award, the Ursa Major Award is presented annually for excellence in the furry arts. It is intended as Anthropomorphic (a.k.a. Furry) Fandom’s equivalent of the Hugo Award ® presented by the World Science Fiction Society, mystery fandom’s Anthony Award, horror fandom’s Bram Stoker Award, and so forth. Anyone may nominate and vote for candidates for the Awards. These Awards are decided by the fans, not by a committee.” Last year more than 1,200 fur fans world wide took part in the final voting for the 2010 Ursa Major Awards. (To put that in perspective, that’s nearly one-quarter of the entire voting body of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — you know, the Oscar people?) Again from the Ursa Majors web site: “There are five nominees in each of eleven categories, except where there was a tie for fifth place. To be eligible, a work must have been released during the calendar year 2011; must include a non-human being given human attributes (anthropomorphic), which can be mental and/or physical; and must receive more than one nomination.”
Without further ah-doo, here are the Ursa Major nominees for 2011.
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture:
Bitter Lake (Directed by Shay)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson)
Puss in Boots (Directed by Chris Miller)
Rango (Directed by Gore Verbinski)
Rio (Directed by Carlos Saldanha)
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Series or Short Work:
Mongrels (Directed by Adam Millar, Jon Brown, Daniel Peak)
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Directed by James Wootton)
The Regular Show (Directed by Benton Conor, Calvin Wong, Kat Morris, Sean Szeles, J. G. Quintel, Minty Lewis, and others)
Simon’s Cat (Directed by Simon Tofield)
ThunderCats (Directed by Michael Jelenic, Todd Casey, Tab Murphy, and others)
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Novel (40,000 words or more):
Black Dogs, Part 2, by Ursula Vernon
Death Drop, by Sean Allen
Isolation Play, by Kyell Gold
Red Sails in the Fallout, by Paul Kidd
Smiley and the Hero, by Ryan Campbell
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction (less than 40,000 words):
“A Safety Weasel Christmas”, by Gene Breshears
“Argo”, by Rick Griffin
“Fetching Asteroids”, by Mary E. Lowd
“How to Get Through the Day”, by Kyell Gold
“Let’s Play Musical Chairs”, by K. M. Hirosaki
“Shreddy and the Zomb-Dogs”, by Mary E. Lowd
“Where the Heart Is”, by Mary E. Lowd and Daniel Lowd
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work (Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and convention program books):
Dragon’s Hoard #1, by various (published by Rabbit Valley)
Fur-Piled #5, by Leo Magna
In the Doghouse of Justice, by Kyell Gold
Nordguard, Book One, by Tess Garman & Teagan Gavet
Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe, Omnibus 1, by various (published by the Tai-Pan Literary & Arts Project)
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story (comic books and serialized on-line stories):
Endtown, by Aaron Neathery
Fur-Piled, by Leo Magna
Furthia High, by QuetzaDrake
Lackadaisy, by Tracy J. Butler
Red Lantern, by Rukis and Alector Fencor
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip:
Ballerina Mafia, by Immelmann
Doc Rat, by Jenner
Faux Pas, by Robert & Margaret Carspecken
Housepets!, by Rick Griffin
Sandra and Woo, by Powree and Oliver Knörzer
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Magazine (both in-print and on-line):
Alasso
Anthro
Flayrah
South Fur Lands
Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Web Site (galleries, story archives, directories, blogs, and personal sites):
Equestria Daily
Fur Affinity
Furry Writers’ Guild
Inkbunny
WikiFur
In the category of Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration:
Blotch, cover of Isolation Play
Blotch, cover of Nordguard, Book One
Jason Chan, cover of Red Sails in the Fallout
Sara Palmer, cover of Weasel Presents
Rosenthal, FBA 2012 season opener painting
C. D. Woodbury, cover of Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe #48
And finally in the category of Best Anthropomorphic Game:
O-kamiden (Developed by Mobile & Game Studio, Inc.)
Pokemon: Black and White (Developed by Game Freak)
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (Developed by CyberConnect2)
Sonic Generations (Developed by Dimps and Sonic Team)
Star Fox 64 3D (Developed by Nintendo EAD and Q-Games)
Congratulations to each and every one of the nominees! At the Ursa Majors web site you’ll discover helpful links to find out much more about each of the nominees, as well as information on how to sign up for the voting. Remember, everyone is free to cast their vote — and you should! The more folks who participate in these awards, not only the more they will represent the broad spectrum of Furry Fandom, but the more that folks who chose what kind of stuff gets made (and released!) will start to pay attention.
