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2016 Ursa Major Awards vote is now open

Edited as of Fri 17 Mar 2017 - 03:03
Your rating: None Average: 4.2 (5 votes)

The 2016 Ursa Majors Awards logo. The 2016 Ursa Major Awards vote has been opened! Send them your e-mail address, and you can vote for any of the nominations in 12 categories. Voting closes on Sunday, April 30. Please pass on this annoucement if you're on a furry message forum or social media site!

The winners will be announced at Anthrocon 2017 (June 29–July 2). And if you have the time to vote, why not also suggest furry creations for the 2017 Recommended Anthropomorphics List?

This year's nominees are...

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

  • Finding Dory (Directed by Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane; June 17)
  • Kung Fu Panda 3 (Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni; January 29)
  • The Secret Life of Pets (Directed by Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney; July 8)
  • Sing (Directed by Garth Jennings and Christophe Lourdelet; December 21)
  • Zootopia (Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush; February 11)

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

  • Bunnicula (Directed by Jessica Borutski, Maxwell Atoms, Robert F. Hughes, Matthew Whitlock, and Ian Wasseluk; Season 1 episodes 1 to 8 [TV])
  • The Lion Guard (Directed by Howy Parkins; Season 1 episodes 1 to 22 [TV])
  • Littlest Pet Shop (Directed by Joel Dickie, Steven Garcia, and Mike Myhre; Season 4 episode 10 to Season 4 episode 26 [TV])
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Directed by James Thiessen, Jim Miller, Tim Stuby, and Denny Lu; Season 6 episodes 1 to 26 [TV])
  • Petals (Directed by Andrea Gallo and Alvaro Dominguez; November 29 [student film])

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

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

  • 400 Rabbits, by Alice "Huskyteer" Dryden, in Gods With Fur (FurPlanet Productions; June 30)
  • A Gentleman of Strength, by Dwale, in Claw the Way to Victory (Jaffa Books; January 24)
  • Marge the Barge, by Mary E. Lowd, in Claw the Way to Victory (Jaffa Books; January 24)
  • Questor's Gambit, by Mary E. Lowd, in Gods With Fur (FurPlanet Productions; June 30)
  • Sheeperfly's Lullaby, by Mary E. Lowd, in GoAL #2 (Goal Publications; March 27)

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

  • Claw the Way to Victory, ed. by AnthroAquatic (Jaffa Books; January 24 [anthology])
  • Gods With Fur, ed. by Fred Patten (FurPlanet Productions; June 30 [anthology])
  • Hot Dish #2, ed. by Dark End (Sofawolf Press; December 1 [anthology])
  • The Muse, by Alex Cockburn (Rabbit Valley Publishing; March [background booklet for Lucid's Dream])
  • ROAR volume 7, ed. by Mary E. Lowd (Bad Dog Books; June 30 [anthology])

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

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

  • Endtown, by Aaron Neathery (Internet; January 1 to December 30)
  • Lackadaisy, by Tracy J. Butler (Internet; Lackadaisy Sabbatical to Lackadaisy Headlong)
  • Lucid's Dream, by Alex Cockburn (Rabbit Valley Publishing; March)
  • Swords and Sausages, by Jan (Internet; January 10 to December 25)
  • TwoKinds, by Tom Fischbach (Internet; January 6 to December 25)

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

  • Carry On, by Kathy Garrison (Internet; January 1 to December 30)
  • Doc Rat, by Jenner (Internet; January 1 to December 29)
  • Housepets!, by Rick Griffin (Internet; January 1 to December 30)
  • Kevin & Kell, by Bill Holbrook (Internet; January 1 to December 31)
  • SaveState, by Tim Weeks (Internet; January 6 to December 28)

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.

  • Dogpatch Press, ed. by Patch Packrat (Internet; January 4 to December 20)
  • Fangs and Fonts (Podcast; episodes #57 to #72)
  • Flayrah, ed. by crossaffliction and GreenReaper (Internet; January 1 to December 29)
  • Fur What It's Worth (Podcast; Season 5 episode #8 to Season 6 episode #8)
  • InFurNation, ed. by Rod O'Riley (Internet; January 1 to December 31)

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

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

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

This is not an endorsement, nor an enhorsement.

Comments

Your rating: None Average: 5 (4 votes)

Here are links to where three of the short stories can be read for free online:

"Marge the Barge"
(a Newfoundland dog hockey player is taught to figure skate by a tabby cat)
http://deepskyanchor.com/marge-the-barge/

"Questor's Gambit"
(imagine Captain Picard as a sphynx cat, Cmdr. Riker as a collie, and Q as a cheshire cat)
http://deepskyanchor.com/questors-gambit/

"Sheeperfly's Lullaby"
(a short, sweet fairy tale about a sheep and a butterfly)
http://deepskyanchor.com/sheeperflys-lullaby/

Your rating: None Average: 4.7 (3 votes)

Funny how people thought Sing would get lost in the crowd, and now it is one of the top five nominees. Illumination must have done good. :)

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

I personally think it's kind of cool to see Zootopia, the front-runner here, go up against sequels to previous Ursa Major Award winners. Kung Fu Panda did not win the 2008 one, but 2 certainly won the 2011 one. And of course, Finding Dory is the sequel to the award winning Finding Nemo. The competition is fierce, but Zootopia can go "savage" against it.

Your rating: None Average: 2 (3 votes)

Thanks Dronon for taking time to link all these.

Your rating: None Average: 5 (2 votes)

(Posting during a 15-minute window of connectivity) Not done yet! I'm on my way home from a vacation after visiting an old friend and going to Vancoufur. Gonna see if I can find excerpts from the novels, and complete the links to everything else. It's been a rush job, like for the series episodes and movie trailers I didn't figure out which ones best presented the look and feel. Will try and have this mostly completed by mid-day Friday! (March 17) Depends on sleep, weather, grocery shopping, and luck finding good links.

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