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Nominations for 2023
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Voting for 2023
Open March 1 – 24

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      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 entirely by the fans, not by the ALAA committee or a panel of judges.


      NEWS

Nominations for the 2023 Ursa Major Awards have CLOSED.

Voting has opened and runs from March 1 to 24. The final nominees are listed below.

It's important to remember that the Ursa Major Awards (like so many other awards) are designed to celebrate and recognize great works, not to judge the character or personality of creators. Unfortunately, the personal squabbling, attacks, and counter-attacks have reached a fever pitch in the Best Music Category this year. The staff of the ALAA have made the unfortunate observation that the category has been compromised, and so we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Best Music category for works from last year (2023). We fully intend to attempt the award in that category again next year (for works from 2024), hopefully with some better controls in place. We apologize to all the music creators out there, and we thank all of our nominators and voters for their patience.


We would like to respectfully remind everyone that the Anthropomorphic Literature & Arts Award committee is a non-profit organization run by a skeleton crew of volunteers, and the Ursa Major Awards are completely funded by donations which need to cover operational costs, production of the physical trophies, and shipping to the winners. When donations are insufficient, the balance comes out of the committee members' pockets.

Last year, we came out in the black for the first time due to the many generous donations for which we were very grateful. However, not much is left in the kitty and it's time to start the ball rolling once more. So, whether you consider yourself a furry or just a fan of anthropomorphic works, and you like the idea of your favorite stuff in that category getting awards, if at any point over the last two decades you've heard of the UMAs or you're just learning about them now, we humbly ask that you consider tossing a donation our way via PayPal - whatever you can afford - and to spread the word around.

 


A special shout-out to Xanni who hosts and troubleshoots the UMA website. Your help is very much appreciated!


The 2023 Nominees (in alphabetical order)

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

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Directed by James Gunn - May 5)
Leo (Directed by Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel and David Wachtenheim - November 21)
Migration (Directed by Benjamin Renner and Guylo Homsy - December 22)
Nimona (Directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane - June 30)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Directed by Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears - August 2)

Best Dramatic Short Work
One-shots, advertisements or short videos.

A Fox in Space - Episode Two - Fixing a Hole (Directed by Matthew Gafford - March 25)
Lackadaisy (Pilot) (Directed by Fable Siegel - March 29)
Once Upon a Studio (Directed by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy - October 15)
Tamberlane (Directed by Ashley Nichols and Caytlin Vilbrandt - May 15)
The Meeps - Love Louder (Official music video. Created in partnership with XIX Entertainment and T&B Media Global.)

Best Dramatic Series
TV or YouTube series videos.

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake (Developed by Adam Muto - August 31 to September 28)
Bluey (Created by Joe Brumm - Season 3)
Helluva Boss (Created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano - Season 2 Episode 3 to Midseason Special)
Sonic Prime (Created by Man of Action - Season 2)
The Owl House - "For the Future" & "Watching and Dreaming" (created by Dana Terrace)

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

Family Matters, by Mitch Marmel, Walter D. Reimer, and E.O. Costello. (FurAffinity - December 8)
Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut, by Mary E. Lowd. (Deep Sky Anchor Press - December 1)
Rafts (ebook), by Utunu. (Makapu Village - March 15)
Wolf of Withervale by Joaquín Baldwin (Paperbear - October 8th)
You're Cordially Invited to Crossroads Station, by Mary E. Lowd. (Deep Sky Anchor Press - July)

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

Aged Plant Fibers and Ink, by James L. Steele. (Zooscape - April)
How Pepper Learned Magic, by Renee Carter Hall. (Zooscape - August)
Of Heart and Stone, by Solomon Harries. (the Voice of Dog - Dec 4)
On the Difference Between AI Cats and Actual Cats: A Love Story, by Daniel Lowd and Mary E. Lowd. (Deep Sky Anchor - February)
Rhapsody of Stolen Feathers, by Frank Alvarez. (Androids and Dragons, October)

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

Commander Annie and Others Adventures, by Mary E. Lowd. (Deep Sky Anchor Press - short story collection - November,)
Gnoll Tales, by NightEyes DaySpring. (Dancing Jackal Books - short story collection - June)
Lauren Ipsum, by Charles Brubaker. (Smallbug Press - comic strip collection - February 2)
Some Words Burn Brightly: An Illuminated Collection of Poetry, by Mary E. Lowd. (Deep Sky Anchor Press - poetry collection - November)
Zooscape, Volume 1, edited by Mary E. Lowd. (Deep Sky Anchor Press - anthology - September)

Best Non-Fiction Work

A Guide to Drawing Manga Fantasy Furries: and Other Anthropomorphic Creatures, by Ryo Sumiyoshi. (Tuttle Publishing - Art guidebook - April 25)
Furry Planet, by Joe Strike. (Apollo Publishers - history - August 29)
Furscience, by Dr. Courtney N. Plante. (International Anthropomorphic Research Project - research on furry fandom - December)
On Furries and the Media, by Soatok. (Dhole Moments - blog - June 6)
TFTuesday Podcast - A Measured Response: Saberspark's TF Video Essay, by Zilepo and K-Libra. (Youtube - video - August 30)

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

Silverwing: The Graphic Novel, written by Kenneth Opel, Illustrated by Christopher Steininge. (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers - September 19)
Slightly Damned, by Chu. (Internet - page #1081 to #1111)
Tamberlane, by Caytlin Vilbrandt and Ari Noble. (Internet - January 11 to December 27)
Two Kinds, by Thomas Fischbach. (Keenspot - January 3 to December 25)
Would Have Bit You, by Inanimorphs. (Tumblr - January to July, (also hard copy Issue 1))

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

Carry On, by Kathy Garrison. (Hirezfox - January 2 to December 29)
Foxes in Love, by Toivo Kaartinen. (Twitter - Jan 1 to December 21)
Freefall, by Mark Stanley. (Purrsia - January 2 to December 29)
Lauren Ipsum, by Charles Brubaker. (Internet - January 2 to December 30)
The Whiteboard, by Doc Nickel. (Internet - January 2 to December 25)

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.

Dhole Moments, edited by Soatok. (Internet - January 6 to December)
Dogpatch Press, edited by Patch O'Furr. (Internet - February to December)
Flayrah, edited by GreenReaper. (Internet - January 1 to December 31)
InFurNation, edited by Rod O'Riley. (Internet - January 1 to December 31)
Zooscape, edited by Mary E. Lowd (Internet; Issue 17 to 19)

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

Market Haul by Squiddy (Twitter - February 22)
Our Furry City - Anthrocon 2023 by ARVEN92 (Deviant Art - June 1)
Pines by Glopossum (Fur Affinity - January 6)
The Record Store by Squiddy (Twitter - February 10)
Winterrock Oasis by Bubblewolf (Fur Affinity - February 20)

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

Friends vs Friends (Developer:Brainwash Gang - Publisher: Raw Fury - May 30)
Laika: Aged Through Blood (Developer:Brainwash Gang - Publisher:Thunderful Publishing - October 19)
Pseudoregalia (Developer/Publisher: rittzler - July 28)
Super Mario Bros Wonder (Developer: Nintendo EPD - Publisher: Nintendo - October 20)

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

e621 - art archive.
Fur Affinity, Furry art and stories.
Kemono Café, Furry webcomic hosting.
Wikifur, Furry wiki.
Wolfery - roleplay/MUCK.

Best Anthropomorphic Fursuit

Draco - Maker: The Beastcub. Owner: Draco Deflagro. (Twitter - July 15)
Forlorn Raven - Maker: Lemonbrat. Owner: Forlorn Raven. (Twitter - February 3)
Pig in Dress - Maker/Owner/Wearer: Suolaxierr. (Twitter - July 15)
Sandey - Maker/Owner/Wearer: Misplaced_Spigot. (Vancoufur 2023)
Vauk - Maker: Kkes and Vauk. Owner: Vauk. (Twitter - August 7)

Notice: Kyell Gold has indicated that he wishes to withdraw from consideration for the Novel and Short Story categories until further notice. For full details, please read his blog on Fur Affinity.


To be eligible, a work must have been released between January 1 and December 31 of the calendar year for that award, and 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.

While we have yet to do so, the ALAA reserves the right to exclude from the Recommended Anthropomorphics List, and from contention for an Ursa Major Award, any works it deems to be obscene, libelous, illegal, or otherwise detrimental to the integrity and good standing of the Ursa Major Awards and the anthropomorphics fandom that those awards represent. For example: Works of a predominantly sexual nature, or which include explicit sexual situations involving characters which may be underage or non-anthropomorphic animals.

The Ursa Major Award was administered and presented during its first two years by The ConFurence Group, a membership organization dedicated to promoting anthropomorphic fandom-related events. It is now presented by the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA), a membership organization dedicated to promoting anthropomorphic literature and arts through such projects as this List and Award, and others which may be undertaken later. Discussions are currently taking place to improve their effectiveness and expand their presence throughout Furry fandom. All suggestions are invited.


The Ursa Major Award banner was designed and drawn by EosFoxx. The A.L.A.A. much appreciates Eos' contribution.

'Hugo Award,' 'Worldcon,' and 'World Science Fiction Society' are registered service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.