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Fox News and Some Bears Too
May. 15th, 2011 08:55 pmI mean real foxen. I noted my sighting yesterday afternoon, and Gary has seen the vixen twice today and also a kit. He saw the kit poking its head out from under an old log pile behind the arena (near where I saw the vixen yesterday) and mom came barking and running up to herd her wayward offspring back into shelter. An hour or so later he saw mom come running from the barns out toward the road, turn back and bark, then cut west and disappear back into the trees. The Brit neighbors' little terrier came running out along the same path as soon as the fox had disappeared. The dog has a tendency to dig for things in burrows, and I suspect mom was distracting him. She'll probably relocate the offspring now.
Some controversy seems to have erupted (it does every year) over the Ursa Major awards. Results were announced at Morphicon and posted this last week. There are complaints that it has become the Kyell Gold and Sofawolf awards. Superficially at least, this would seem to be true. However, only about a thousand votes were cast. The voting is open to anyone who will take the trouble to register and vote, so if you didn't vote and didn't nominate, then you have no right to complain at all.
I do agree that awards that are determined simply by popular vote will tend to go to the most familiar names with the most publicity rather than necessarily to the best art or literary works. The answer to that is not to try to "reform" the Ursa Major awards, but to start some additional award programs. I would like to see an award or group of awards made on literary merit, by a committee of furry writers. Membership on the committee could rotate, and a group like the Furry Writers Guild would be a good administrative basis. Something similar for artists could also be created. Awards could be given both to specific pieces of work and to individual artists and authors for their entire corpus of work.
Likewise, I think the various furry publishers should get together and make some awards of their own, again based on artistic/literary merit rather than just "who sold the most."
Note that I'm not criticizing Kyell Gold or Sofawolf. They do good work, and are popular. They also do heavy promotion, so they have high name recognition. That counts for a lot in a popular vote contest. If you really want to see someone else win in the Ursas, then you need to help promote their work in advance. Make sure it gets nominated (this takes multiple nominations, so enlist your friends.) Then once the nomination is secured, campaign for it, just as in a political election. Publicize the work and the artist or author. Make sure everyone knows how to register and vote, and that they have seen the work in question. Tell them WHY they should vote for it.
Some controversy seems to have erupted (it does every year) over the Ursa Major awards. Results were announced at Morphicon and posted this last week. There are complaints that it has become the Kyell Gold and Sofawolf awards. Superficially at least, this would seem to be true. However, only about a thousand votes were cast. The voting is open to anyone who will take the trouble to register and vote, so if you didn't vote and didn't nominate, then you have no right to complain at all.
I do agree that awards that are determined simply by popular vote will tend to go to the most familiar names with the most publicity rather than necessarily to the best art or literary works. The answer to that is not to try to "reform" the Ursa Major awards, but to start some additional award programs. I would like to see an award or group of awards made on literary merit, by a committee of furry writers. Membership on the committee could rotate, and a group like the Furry Writers Guild would be a good administrative basis. Something similar for artists could also be created. Awards could be given both to specific pieces of work and to individual artists and authors for their entire corpus of work.
Likewise, I think the various furry publishers should get together and make some awards of their own, again based on artistic/literary merit rather than just "who sold the most."
Note that I'm not criticizing Kyell Gold or Sofawolf. They do good work, and are popular. They also do heavy promotion, so they have high name recognition. That counts for a lot in a popular vote contest. If you really want to see someone else win in the Ursas, then you need to help promote their work in advance. Make sure it gets nominated (this takes multiple nominations, so enlist your friends.) Then once the nomination is secured, campaign for it, just as in a political election. Publicize the work and the artist or author. Make sure everyone knows how to register and vote, and that they have seen the work in question. Tell them WHY they should vote for it.
