It’s Junk Food Friday today when we pay tribute to those artists who elevate calories from salt, fat, refined white sugar, bleached flour, and preservatives to the empyrean. The post does not recommend the consumption of overprocessed food full of empty calories (also known as “cheat food”) nor will it show children eating disgusting quantities of unhealthy things out of the box with their fingers. There will be, however, graphic depictions of artworks whose raw materials are candy, snack food, and their packaging plus some picture books in which they figure prominently. If you have high nutritional principles or no will power whatsoever, do not read any farther. Why wouldn’t sugar be a powerful source of inspiration for artists? It is packed with cultural significance, it can be molded and spun, and it takes color beautifully. As much as we admire how visual artists have exploited the tactile and sculptural qualities of junk food, it is the picture book illustrators who have realized its narrative potential.
When the hero’s father is laid off in Richard Egielski’s Jazper, he takes a three-week job house-sitting for five evil moths. In the evenings, he passes the lonely hours reading magic books in the library. By the time the moths come home, Jazper has mastered the art of transformation and decides to hit the boards to supplement the family income. When the moths read the great newspaper write-up of the Amazing Jazper’s act, in which he changes into anything from a pickle to a cheese doodle, they vow to take revenge for having allowed him access to the library. Or there’s Dennis Nolan’s Hunters of the Great Forest. The reader has no idea what they might be seeking when they set out one warm night over the mountains and through the forest, braving dragonflies, toads, blue jays and irascible chipmunks. It takes all their strength and cunning to bring the prize home to the village. Toasted on sticks in front of a roaring fire, just one marshmallow is enough to sustain the entire Lilliputian community.
It’s space aliens against a cat in David Wiesner’s Mr. Wuffles! There’s no choice except to abandon ship and take refuge under the radiator, where their Brobdingnagian enemy can’t reach. But he can sit in front of their hiding place and wait. They take heart when the ladybug finds rations… Not bad at all! Fortified by empty calories, our space aliens find the strength to confound the brute, make their way back to their space ship, and blast off towards the safety of their own galaxy somewhere far far away… Who would have ever guessed that stories of perseverance, courage, and derring-do could hinge on sugar and… ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL WITH TBHQ FOR FRESHNESS, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, SKIM MILK CHEESE (SKIM MILK, WHEY PROTEIN, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES, ANNATTO EXTRACT FOR COLOR), CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS … If sugary and starchy installations prove impossible to conserve, representations of junk food in the picture book will live on, if properly annotated.
Now pass the doughnuts.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. Voting for the 2016 Ursa Major Awards has opened. LOGIN or REGISTER to vote. The nominees are listed below. Follow us on Twitter @UrsaMajorAwards See the new Articles & Interviews directory for the recent interviews with Ursa Major Award winners – Huskyteer (Short Story 2015) and Alexander Shaw (Best Novel 2015). Somebody tell Pinkie Pie that there is no Best Pony category! Live-action or animated feature-length movies. • Finding Dory (Directed by Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane;
• Kung Fu Panda 3 (Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni; • The Secret Life of Pets (Directed by Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney; • Sing (Directed by Garth Jennings and Christophe Lourdelet; • Zootopia (Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush; Best Dramatic Series or Short Work TV series or one-shots, advertisements or short videos. • Bunnicula (Directed by Jessica Borutski, Maxwell Atoms, Robert F. Hughes, Matthew Whitlock, and Ian Wasseluk; Season 1 episodes 1 to 8 [TV]) • The Lion Guard (Directed by Howy Parkins; Season 1 episodes 1 to 22 [TV]) • Littlest Pet Shop (Directed by Joel Dickie, Steven Garcia, and Mike Myhre; Season 4 episode 10 to Season 4 episode 26 [TV]) • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Directed by James Thiessen, Jim Miller, Tim Stuby, and Denny Lu; Season 6 episodes 1 to 143 [TV]) • Petals (Directed by Andrea Gallo and Alvaro Dominguez; November 29 [student film]) Written works of 40,000 words or more.
Serialized novels qualify only for the year that the final chapter is published. • Dog Country, by Malcolm F. Cross (Amazon Digital Services; • Fracture, by Hugo Jackson (Inspired Quill; • My Diary, by Fredrick Usiku Kruger, Lieutenant of the Rackenroon Hyena Brigade, by Kathy Garrison Kellog (The Cross Time Cafe; • The Origin Chronicles: Mineau, by Justin Swatsworth (Dolphyn Visions; • Sixes Wild: Echoes, by Tempe O'Kun (FurPlanet Productions; Stories less than 40,000 words, poetry, and other short Written works. • 400 Rabbits, by Alice "Huskyteer" Dryden, in Gods With Fur (FurPlanet Productions; • A Gentleman of Strength, by Dwale, in Claw the Way to Victory (Jaffa Books; • Marge the Barge, by Mary E. Lowd, in Claw the Way to Victory (Jaffa Books; • Questor's Gambit, by Mary E. Lowd, in Gods With Fur (FurPlanet Productions; • Sheeperfly's Lullaby, by Mary E. Lowd, in GoAL #2 (Goal Publications; Best Other Literary Work
Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and serialized online stories. • Claw the Way to Victory, ed. by AnthroAquatic (Jaffa Books; • Gods With Fur, ed. by Fred Patten (FurPlanet Productions; • Hot Dish #2, ed. by Dark End (Sofawolf Press; • The Muse, by Alex Cockburn (Rabbit Valley Publishing; March [background booklet for Lucid's Dream]) • ROAR volume 7, ed. by Mary E. Lowd (Bad Dog Books; Includes documentaries, opinion pieces, and news articles. • The Art of Zootopia, by Jessica Julius (Chronicle Books; March 8 [book; making of feature film]) • Burned Furs and How You Perceive Porn (Culturally F'd: After Dark; • CSI: Fur Fest; The Unsolved Case of the Gas Attack at a Furry Convention, by Jennifer Swann (VICE Media; • Fursonas (Directed by Dominic Rodriguez; May 10 [documentary film]) • 17 Misconceptions About Furries and the Furry Fandom (Culturally F'd #23; Includes comic books, and serialized online stories.
• Endtown, by Aaron Neathery (Internet; January 1 to December 30) • Lackadaisy, by Tracy J. Butler (Internet; Lackadaisy Sabbatical to Lackadaisy Headlong) • Lucid's Drean, by Alex Cockburn (Rabbit Valley Publishing; • Swords and Sausages, by Jan (Internet; January 10 to December 25) • TwoKinds, by Tom Fischbach (Internet; January 6 to December 25) Newspaper-style strips, including those with ongoing arcs. • Carry On, by Kathy Garrison (Internet; • Doc Rat, by Jenner (Internet; January 1 to December 29) • Housepets!, by Rick Griffin (Internet; • Kevin & Kell, by Bill Holbrook (Internet; January 1 to December 31) • SaveState, by Tim Weeks (Internet; January 6 to December 28) 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. • Dogpatch Press, ed. by Patch Packrat (Internet; January 4 to December 20)
• Fangs and Fonts (Podcast; episodes #57 to #72) • Flayrah, ed. by crossaffliction and GreenReaper (Internet; • Fur What It's Worth (Podcast; Season 5 episode #8 to Season 6 episode #8) • InFurNation, ed. by Rod O'Riley (Internet; Illustrations for books, magazines, convention program books, cover art for such, coffee-table portfolios. • Tracy J. Butler, cover of Anthrocon 2016 Souvenir Book • Dolphyn, "Hey Baby, You're the Cat's Meow!" in Anthrocon 2016 Souvenir Book • Teagan Gavet, cover of Gods With Fur, ed. by Fred Patten (FurPlanet Productions, June 30) • Iskra, "Autumn", FurAffinity, October 22 • Jenn 'Pac' Rodriguez, cover of Claw the Way to Victory, ed. by AnthroAquatic (Jaffa Books, January 24) Computer or console games, role-playing games, board games. • Bear Simulator (Developer and Publisher: Farjay Studios; • Major \ Minor (Developer: Klace; • Overwatch (Developer and Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment;
• Pokémon Sun & Moon (Developer: Game Freak; Publishers: Nintendo and the Pokémon Company; • Stories: The Path of Destinies (Developer and Publisher: Spearhead Games; Online collections of art, stories, and other creative and/or informational works. Includes galleries, story archives, directories, blogs, and personal sites.(You Tube Channel, furry videos)(Furry fandom art community site)(furry art specialty site) • The Furry Writers' Guild (Internet [FWG news & discussion]) 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. , and any donation would be hugely appreciated. If everyone who nominated or voted donated just one dollar, all our expenses would be covered for the year!
100% of the money received will be put towards the running costs. Thank you for your consideration. 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.