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.
- Furry founder Fred Patten saw more partying, less fandom in 2018 with the Ursa Major Awards.
- Ursa Major Awards get matching donations from Anthrocon, help wanted from other cons.
- The Ursa Major Awards are a fandom institution, but can we fund them?
Here’s a few things that stood out about the winners: