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.

NEWS

Voting for the 2012 Ursa Major Awards has started. Please check out the final nominees and login to vote using our automated ballot. You may add to or change your votes up until May 15.

The results will be announced at an Awards ceremony at Anthrocon (July 5, 2013).

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

The Ursa Major Awards have always been run by volunteer members, and all costs associated with it such as maintaining the website, and especially providing the physical awards to the winners, have been borne by donations from the core members. In order to help us with this, and to improve the quality of the award trophies, we would like to solicit donations from the fandom.

	The easiest way to contribute is to use the PayPal link button on the left for paypal@ursamajorawards.org, and any donation would be hugely appreciated. 100% of the money received will be put towards the running costs. Thank you for your consideration.

The winners of the Ursa Major Awards for the Best Anthropomorphic Literature and Art of 2011 were announced at a presentation ceremony at CaliFur VIII in Irvine, CA on 2 June 2012.

To be eligible, a work must have been released during the calendar year 2011, and have must included a non-human being given human attributes (anthropomorphic), which can be mental and/or physical; and must receive more than one nomination. There were five nominees in each of eleven categories, except where there was a tie for fifth place.

The results in order of placing were:

Best Motion Picture

Live-action or animated feature-length movies.

1. Kung Fu Panda 2 (Directed by Jennifer Yuh)
2. Puss in Boots (Directed by Chris Miller)
3. Rango (Directed by Gore Verbinski)
4. Rio (Directed by Carlos Saldanha)
5. Bitter Lake (Directed by Shay)

Best Dramatic Series or Short Work

TV series or one-shots, advertisements or short videos.

1. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Directed by James Wootton)
2. ThunderCats (Directed by Michael Jelenic, Todd Casey, Tab Murphy, and others)
3. Regular Show (Directed by Benton Conor, Calvin Wong, Kat Morris, Sean Szeles, J. G. Quintel, Minty Lewis, and others)
4. Simon's Cat (Directed by Simon Tofield)
5. Mongrels (Directed by Adam Millar, Jon Brown, Daniel Peak)

Best Novel

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

1. Isolation Play, by Kyell Gold
2. Red Sails in the Fallout, by Paul Kidd
3. Death Drop, by Sean Allen
4. Black Dogs, Part 2, by Ursula Vernon
5. Smiley and the Hero, by Ryan Campbell

Best Short Fiction

Stories less than 40,000 words, poetry and other short written works.

1. How to Get Through the Day, by Kyell Gold
2. Argo, by Rick Griffin
3. Let's Play Musical Chairs, by K. M. Hirosaki
4. Where the Heart Is, by Mary E. Lowd
5. A Safety Weasel Christmas, by Gene Breshears
6. Shreddy and the Zomb-Dogs, by Mary E. Lowd
7. Fetching Asteroids, by Mary E. Lowd

Best Other Literary Work

Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and convention program books.

1. Nordguard, Book One, by Tess Garman & Teagan Gavet
2. Fur-Piled #5, by Leo Magna
3. In the Doghouse of Justice, by Kyell Gold
4. Dragon's Hoard #1, by various (Rabbit Valley)
5. Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe, Omnibus 1, by various (Tai-Pan Literary & Arts Project)

Best Graphic Story

Includes comic books and serialized online stories.

1. Furthia High, by QuetzaDrake
2. Red Lantern, by Rukis and Alector Fencor
3. Lackadaisy, by Tracy J. Butler
4. Fur-Piled, by Leo Magna
5. Endtown, by Aaron Neathery

Best Comic Strip

1. Housepets!, by Rick Griffin
2. Ballerina Mafia, by Immelmann
3. Faux Pas, by Robert & Margaret Carspecken
4. Doc Rat, by Jenner
5. Sandra and Woo, by Powree and Oliver Knrzer

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.

1. Flayrah
2. Anthro
3. South Fur Lands
4. Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe
5. Allasso

Best Website

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

1. Equestria Daily
2. WikiFur
3. Fur Affinity
4. Inkbunny
5. Furry Writers' Guild

Best Published Illustration

Illustrations for books, magazines, convention program books, cover art for such, coffee table portfolios.

1. Blotch, cover of Nordguard, Book One
2. Blotch, cover of Isolation Play
3. Jason Chan, cover of Red Sails in the Fallout
4. Sara Palmer, cover of Weasel Presents
5. Rosenthal, FBA 2012 season opener painting
6. C. D. Woodbury, cover of Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe #48

Best Game

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

1. Pokemon: Black and White
2. Star Fox 64 3D
3. O-kamiden
4. Sonic Generations
5. Solatorobo: Red the Hunter

The ALAA's Choice Award

In addition, the first ALAAs Choice Award was presented, for an outstanding anthropomorphic work of 2011. The ALAAs Choice Award, unlike the Ursa Major Awards, is selected by a vote among the fifteen members of the Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association. The ALAAs Choice Award for 2011 was presented to the graphic story:   Red Lantern, by Rukis & Alector Fencor.

Recommendations for inclusion in the 2012 Recommended Anthropomorphics List are now open.
Please send in your recommendations for the 2012 list to recommended@ursamajorawards.org

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.

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.

Watch out for SIG meetings at major anthropomorphic conventions!
 

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.