Discover the best of furry fandom with the 2017 Ursa Major awards, and 2017 Cóyotl Awards.

by Patch O'Furr

Thank you for helping Dogpatch Press to win the Ursa Major Award for Best Magazine of 2017!

 

Ever have a hard time knowing where to start with furry media? Does the horizon get lost in the digital sands?

Look no further than the Ursa Major Awards.  That’s the Furry equivalent of science fiction fandom’s Hugo Awards, mystery fandom’s Anthony Awards, or horror fandom’s Bram Stoker Awards. The Hugos also have the Nebulas to  complement them – and Furry has the Coyotl Awards for literature, as voted by the Furry Writers’ Guild. That’s not all – furry literature will also soon have the first Leo Awards, to be announced at AC 2018. (What’s the difference? The Leos are fandom-specific and voted on by a panel of judges.) The Ursa and Coyotl winners were both announced this month, so they’re all listed below to encourage you to check out some cool stuff you might not have seen.

URSA MAJOR NEWS

The winners for 2017 were announced at a presentation ceremony at the Furry Down-Under 2018 convention in Surfer’s Paradise, Queensland, Australia, on Saturday May 5.  FurDu posted a video of the ceremony including a slide show created by Ed Otter:

There was a lot of talk about it here before they were announced. Fred Patten saw growth in activities like fursuiting competing for attention with fan media, while maybe the awards could use a boost for reach after lower voting this year than in the past. A lack of staffing and funding led to appeals for help, while Anthrocon began offering matching donation to support writers. For 2019, the Awards will be presented at AnthrOhio.

Here’s a few things that stood out about the winners:

I am actively amazed that Bojack Horseman did not get nominated. Critics have been going bananas for it — and, from what I’ve seen, they really did have one heck of a season. – Rod O’Riley (Awards co founder)

The nonfiction category had a strong list. Congrats to Joe Strike for winning for Furry Nation, the first published history of fandom. And the Best Dramatic Series or Short category had a mainstream production made by furries (it’s a story behind the scenes I can’t tell!)

Dogpatch Press won Best Magazine with a voting score of 450 in comparison to Flayrah’s 301, according to Dronon. It shouldn’t be that hard to muster up a few hundred votes with all the furries in the world needing news. If I had a few extra paws to type with, I’d even help post guest articles over there.

Winners are on the Ursa Majors site: http://www.ursamajorawards.org/UMA_2017.htm 

Best Motion Picture

Live-action or animated feature-length movies.

Best Dramatic Series or Short Work

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

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.

Best Non-Fiction Work

Includes art books, documentaries, opinion pieces, and news articles.

Best Other Literary Work

Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, and serialized online stories.

Best Graphic Story

Includes comic books, and serialized online stories.

Best Comic Strip

Newspaper-style strips, including those with ongoing arcs.

  • WON: Housepets!, by Rick Griffin (Internet; January 2 to December 29)
  • DreamKeepers Prelude, by David & Liz Lillie (Internet; January 6 [#350] to December 28 [#393])
  • Freefall, by Mark Stanley (Internet; January 2 to December 29)
  • Carry On, by Kathy Garrison Kellogg (Internet; January 1 to December 29)
  • Doc Rat, by Jenner (Internet; January 4 to December 29)

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.

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.

  • WON: Night in the Woods (Developer: Infinite Fall, Publisher: Finji; February 21)
  • Cuphead (Developer and Publisher: StudioMDHR Entertainment; September 29)
  • Star Fox 2 (Developer: Nintendo and Argonaut Games, Publisher: Nintendo; September 29)
  • Sonic Mania (Developer: PagodaWest Games and Headcannon, Publisher: Sega; August 15)
  • Yooka-Laylee (Developers: Playtonic Games; April 11)

Best Website

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

The Cóyotl Awards for excellence in anthropomorphic literature are voted on by members of the Furry Writers’ Guild. On May 25, the 2017 winners were announced at Furlandia 2018 in Portland, Oregon.

Best Novel

Best Novella

Best Short Story

Best Anthology

If you’re looking for something good to read or watch, why not try out one of these right now? And let the creator know you just bought checked out their work (and mention this article.) Thanks to everyone who votes and makes furry the fandom that makes it’s own media, and congratulations to all the winners!

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.