2009 Ursa Major Awards

The 2009 Ursa Major Awards ceremony was held on May 30, 2010 during at the Mt Laurel Marriott, Mt Laurel, New Jersey during FA: United 2010. 2 the Ranting Gryphon hosted the gala ceremony, and the award plaques were designed by Heather Bruton.

Nominations were open between January 22 and February 8, and voting was held between March 13 and April 18. Nominations and votes were recorded from over 1,100 fans residing in countries as far as Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Laos, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the USA; this was the largest number of votes recorded by the ALAA since open public voting began in 2004 for the 2003 recipients.

Controversy

Restriction of nominations

Nominations for recipients excluded works which were deemed by the ALAA as "obscene, libelous, or otherwise detrimental to the integrity and good standing of the Ursa Major Awards and the anthropomorphics fandom." This definition included "works of a predominantly sexual nature, or which include explicit sexual situations involving characters which may be underage or non-anthropomorphic animals." This was perceived as being in response to the previous year's nominations of two works - Softpaw Magazine #3-4 and Finding Avalon - which are considered as "cub porn."

Withdrawals

On April 9, David Hopkins, author of Jack, contacted the Ursa Major Award administrators to request that the work be withdrawn from consideration for the award in the category of Best Graphic Story. He later told GreenReaper of Flayrah that he based his decision to withdraw upon his feelings concerning the recent public perception of the furry fandom as a whole, even though he did not voice discontent with the fandom or its works.

Nominees

Winners are highlighted in bold.

Best Comic Strip

• Housepets! by Rick Griffin
• Dan and Mab’s Furry Adventures by Amber M. Williams
• Doc Rat by Jenner
• Freefall by Mark Stanley
• Kevin and Kell by Bill Holbrook

Best Game

• Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time, developed by Insomniac Games, published by Sony Computer Entertainment
• Earth Eternal (created by Sparkplay Media)
• G-Force – The Video Game (developed by Keen Studios, published by Disney Interactive)
• Predation, the Board Game (created by Quentin Long)

Best Graphic Story (with continuous story arcs)

• Concession by Immelmann
• Furthia High by QuetzaDrake
• Lackadaisy by Tracy J. Butler
• Twokinds by Tom Fischbach

Best Magazine

• Heat #6
• Anthro
• New Fables
• South Fur Lands
• Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe

Best Motion Picture

• Avatar, from 20th Century Fox, directed by James Cameron
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (from 20th Century Fox, directed by Wes Anderson)
• The Princess and the Frog (from Walt Disney Pictures Animation, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker)
• Up (from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation, directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
• Where the Wild Things Are (from Warner Brothers, directed by Spike Jonze)

Best Novel

• Out of Position, by Kyell Gold, published by Sofawolf Press
• Bone Crossed, by Patricia Briggs, published by Ace Books
• Cheetah’s Win, by Phil Geusz, published by Anthrozine.com
• Jazmyn, by Bernard Doove, published by CreateSpace
• Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, by David Benidictus, published by Dutton Juvenile
• The Unscratchables, by Cornelius Kane, published by Scribner

Best Other Literary Work

• Draw Furries: How to Create Anthropomorphic and Fantasy Animals, by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges, published by Impact
• Bloom County – The Complete Collection, Volume 1, by Berke Breathed, published by Idea & Design Works
• The First Book of Lapism, by Phil Geusz, published by Anthro Press
• Who are the furries? by Denise Winterman, from BBC News
• X, edited by Kyell Gold, published by Sofawolf Press

Best Published Illustration

• Blotch: Cover for Out of Position by Kyell Gold
• Patrick Farley: "Gaia’s Strange Seedlike Brood" from Thoughtcrime Experiment
• Jailbird: "It’s Beautiful" from "Trading Wishes" by Kevin Frane
• Kenket: Illustration for New Coyote from Anthrozine.com
• Sara Palmer: Cover for Jasmyn by Bernard Doove

Best Short Fiction

• "Drifting", by Kyell Gold, from FurAffinity.net
• "Moonthief", by Not Tube, by Sofawolf Press
• "Stop the World", by Kyell Gold, from Anthrozine.com
• "Thou Shalt Not Make Wrongful Use of the Name of Thy Lord", by Whyte Yote, by Sofawolf Press
• "Trading Wishes", by Kevin Frane, from FurAffinity.net

Best Short Subject or Series

• The Penguins of Madagascar (produced by Dreamworks Animation for Nickelodeon)
• The Cat Piano (from the People’s Republic of Animation, directed by Eddie White and Ari Gibson)
• Partly Cloudy (from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation, directed by Peter Sohn)
• Prep and Landing (from Walt Disney Pictures Animation, directed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers)
• The Secret Saturdays (produced by Cartoon Network)