2011 Ursa Major Award nominations open
Nominations are open for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards, intended to recognize the best works published in the field of anthropomorphics last year. Nominations close on February 29; voting starts March 15 and closes May 4 (to allow last-minute voting from Morphicon).
Furry fans may nominate up to five works in each category. The 2011 Awards will be announced and presented in a ceremony at CaliFur VIII in Irvine, CA, June 1–3, 2012.
Available awards include Best Motion Picture, Dramatic Short Work or Series, Novel, Short Fiction, Other Literary Work, Graphic Story, Comic Strip, Magazine, Website, Published Illustration, and Game.
If you cannot think of five worthwhile nominees in each category, see the 2011 Recommended Anthropomorphics List on the Ursa Major Awards website for suggestions.
About the author
Fred Patten — read stories — contact (login required)a retired former librarian from North Hollywood, California, interested in general anthropomorphics
Comments
The 2011 Recommended Anthropomorphics List is already closed? Funny, the UMA website clearly states it was to be open until January 15. (And a recommendation I sent in a week ago seems to have been ignored.)
I do not think it is closed. It just has not been updated since January 6. I sent in a few myself:
Dramatic Short Work or Series
The Funday PawPet Show (by Yappy Fox, Herbie Hamill, Simba, Kuddlepup, JackRabbit, Liesl, Eagle Beagle, Brace Bear; weekly episodes #488 to #530)
FursuitTV (by Timduru; monthly episodes #59 to #70)
Furries - An Inside Look (by Curt Pehrson)
Comic Strip
Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures, by Amber Williams (Internet strips from 3rd January to 30th December)
Graphic Story
Prequel, by Kazerad (Internet, March 15th to December 28th)
Other Literary Work
Sythyry's Journal (Internet posts, January 3rd to December 27th)
Anthropomorphic Research Project, Courtney "Nuka" Plante, et. al. (Internet, Summer and Winter 2011 surveys)
Website
Inkbunny, furry art and story community
Furry 4 Life, furry social network and art archive
F-list, furry roleplaying community and character profile database
Furry Writers' Guild, writers' association and information
The Fursuit Archive, fursuit photos and videos (Timduru)
The Fursuit Database, fursuits and their builders (Timduru)
Furry Subreddit, social links to furry resources
FurCast, by Paradox, Mattox and Fayroe; podcast
Miscellany
SpinDizzy MUCK, whimsical critter-focused roleplaying environment
Your recommendations have been added with the exception of "Furries - An Inside Look", because that was first published online in December 2010, thus making it ineligible for the 2011 Awards.
Whoops! Good catch; not sure why I thought it was published last year, other than it being quite close.
Sorry about the little glitch that had that marked as closed. My fault there. Recommendations are still open until the 15th. May I ask what you recommended? That's usually somebody else's responsibility, so I don't know.
As the "Dramatic Short Work or Series" section includes advertisements, I suggested two 2011 TV commercials for Orkin pest exterminators, from a long-running campaign created by The Richards Group of Dallas, Texas. Both contain anthro pest species:
Blind Date: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISLJCT0hFE8
Vacation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0kfF4caI7k
I had a real-life experience with a rat something like this! It was around 1982. I was/am a member of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, L.A.'s biggest s-f fan club. Around 1982 the LASFS decided to campaign to host the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention (in a different city each year), and we won. I was on the committee to organize the Worldcon two years in the future. So was Alan Frisbie. We were friends through the weekly LASFS meetings, but I didn't know Alan well otherwise. We usually held the 1984 Worldcon planning meetings at the LASFS clubhouse, but one day Alan invited me to his house to discuss something. It was the first time I had been there. We went to Alan's living room, which was lined with floor-to-ceiling bookcases full of books. I sat down in a plush chair next to one of the bookcases, and we started to discuss the upcoming Worldcon. Suddenly I heard this tiny sneeze right by my left ear. I turned my head, and I was eyeball to eyeball with a big rat! Alan said casually, "Oh, she's my pet rat. I let her wander loose because she likes to explore. She's probably curious about your haircream or earwax or something. If you let her crawl up your arm, she'll sniff your head." So I did, and the rat did.
I got to know that rat, because Alan wanted to make her the official mascot of the 1984 Worldcon. The rest of the Committee was skeptical, but we finally decided to go ahead because two years is the average lifespan of a rat, and most of us thought that she would be dead by 1984. But she lived, and she died at the Worldcon, probably because of extreme old age plus nervousness at being petted by so many strangers.
Fred Patten
Haven't seen those - I'll take the recommendation from your post, there. Thanks!
Kay Shapero
http://www.kayshapero.net/
Your recommendations have now been added. Force refresh if necessary to see them.
Thanks for that!
Something I submitted to the 2011 Recommendations list that hasn't shown up yet:
Salvatore, v. 1 and 2, by Nicolas de Crécy, published by NBM Publishing.
(click where it says Previews, under both titles, for page samples)
Thanks - I think there's a glitch somewhere on the route because everything I've gotten is up on the current list. Anybody else got anything that's not there? If so, please post it here so I can add the thing.
Kay Shapero
http://www.kayshapero.net/
Ok, dronon, you can rest assured Savatore 1 and 2 will be on the list when today's update gets there - I just finished adding them and everything else that came in today. I'm not mailing the update until tomorrow, in case something shows up at the very last minute. Rather a lot of things did arrive today, including a few I should have thought to nominate myself. Which brings me to...
People - the purpose of the List is to tell people about recent furry items you think other furries would like to read/see/whatever. This works best when you send in the recommendation as soon as you can after discovering it. Sending me a long list at the last minute does indeed get things into the List but anything published in January may not be quite so available in December. Yes, it also helps the reader in finding what they might want to nominate for the Ursa Majors, but that is secondary, and even then it still helps the chances OF that item if it's been there awhile and not just turned up at the last minute.
I'd also like some help - there's a note in the text on the top of the List page explaining what the list is for and how it is not a pre-nomination list for the Ursa Majors. As usual, I got a few folks this year unclear on the concept. So could people go look at the List, check out the paragraph in question, and let me know what, if anything, is unclear? This kitty would much appreciate this. :)
As always, thanks for the feedback!
Kay Shapero
http://www.kayshapero.net/
I might add that it's always exasperating when I hear some fur say, "Such-and-such was great; it's one of the best things I read/saw/played this year," or if it's a serial like a comic strip, "It's one of my favorites; I always read it!"; but they NEVER BOTHER TO RECOMMEND IT! It's almost as bad when people wait until the last minute before the Recommended List closes to send in a list of what they liked -- especially as, since practically everything worthwhile has been recommended by someone else by then, last-minute recommendations tend to be of obscure items that are hard to track down. Please, people, the Recommended Anthropomorphics List is there for all our benefit, including yours. Take advantage of it. Let us know what you find that's worth a look, while it's fresh and available; and take a look at the List every now and then to see what's new that you may be missing.
Fred Patten
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