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ABOUT THE U.M.A. | ![]() |
![]() RECOMMENDATIONS Recommended Anthropomorphics List Open for submissions Discussion ![]() ![]() Contacts & Links AWARDS Nominations for 2022 Closed! Voting for 2022 Closed! Past Winners: 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 ALAA's Choice Award ALAA Hall of Fame Award Presentations Articles & Interviews Logo by Foxenawolf |
![]() 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. NEWSThe results of the voting for the 2022 Ursa Major Awards are here! You can watch the presentation video on YouTube, but if you wish to just read the results, they are below the following article so that there are no accidental spoilers. For 22 years of the Ursa Major Awards, we in the ALAA have done as best as we can to hold a ceremony that honors and celebrates the best in anthropomorphic art as decided by our fellow members of the furry fandom. We'd like to keep doing this for as long as we can, going into the future, hopefully for the next 22 years. However we have to acknowledge that monetary realities can often make the administration of the awards difficult. Since the passing in 2018 of our friend Fred Patten who was a huge central force in our operation, and then later still with the effects of COVID which took the UMAs out of the con space and into digital out of necessity, keeping the lights on has been a matter of scrounging up whatever few donations we have and then paying the rest of the running costs out of our own pockets. This includes the manufacture of the trophies as well as shipping them to the winners. The ALAA isn't a for-profit organization, but rather a skeleton crew of volunteers. We hear all the feedback that comes our way and we wish we were financially secure enough to implement it all - more categories (we were lucky that we could add Music this year, as it just barely fit inside our budget), an overhaul of the website, more production value in the ceremony, larger outreach, etc. However, the truth of the matter is that, for most of these past few years, the maximum we've been able to handle is shipping out the trophies, and that's a very tight maximum. There's also a tinge of frustration, as we feel that if we had the funds to do more with the awards, it would help increase interest and excitement for them across the fandom. On that last point however, we feel a ray of hope. After years of stagnating participation, this year we saw a HUGE boost in nominations and votes, as well as more followers on our social media accounts. We have open donations on our site, though we've been wary of outright reaching out for them on our platforms. That said, this is a clear opportunity that would be silly to not act on. 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. We are discussing and considering additional sites such as Patreon and Ko-Fi, but as of now PayPal is our only method of receiving donations.A special shout-out to Xanni who hosts and troubleshoots the UMA website. Your help is very much appreciated! The 2022 WinnersCheck out the video of the presentations. We'll start with the brand new category: Best Anthropomorphic Music Another Railway Day, album, by Nonnie Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• Visiting Narcissa, album, by Patricia Taxxon Best Website Fur Affinity Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• e621 Best Game Cult of the Lamb Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• Stray Best Published Illustration Ais05, Dragon Party Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• Jacato, Wind Watcher Best Magazine Dogpatch Press, by Patch Packrat Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• InFurNation, edited by Rod O'Riley Best Comic Strip The Whiteboard, by Doc N. Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• Duncan & Eddie, by Chevril Best Graphic Story The Whiteboard: Sherlock Holmes, by Doc N. Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• Slightly Damned, by Chu Best Non-Fiction Work Art, Furries, God, by Patricia Taxxon Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• Who Runs The Internet? Furries, by Dylan Reeve Best General Literary Work Circles: Volume 4, by Andrew French, Scott Fabianek, and Steve Domanski Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• Usagi Yojimbo Origins, by Stan Sakai Best Short Fiction Bears & Bravery, by Gre7g Luterman (illustrations by BearHybrid) Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• Null, by Elise Zoe Heider Best Novel A Furry Faux Paw, by Jessica Kara Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• Scars of the Golden Dancer, by NightEyes DaySpring Best Dramatic Series Bluey (Created by Joe Brumm; Season 3 (Part 2)) Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• The Owl House (Created by Dana Terrace; season 2 episode 11 to season 3 episode 1) Best Dramatic Short Work Horns (Directed by FattyDragonite; December 9) Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• The Legend of Pipi (Directed by Julia Schoel and Birgit Uhlig; Jul 16) Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado; December 21) Runners-Up (in descending number of votes)
• The Bad Guys (Directed by Pierre Perifel; April 22) There was no Fursuit category contested in this year due to insufficient nominations
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. |
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