Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Hope you guys are doing well. I’ve had another thought about the Coyotls and wanted to see what you guys think. Mainly, should we consider a furry comics category? There’s a fair amount of comics produce in the fandom and I feel we should recognize it. It’s not standard writing like the other categories, and the ursa’s do recognize it, but the ursas are voted by the public, I feel they deal with writing in their own way. They may be apples and oranges, but they’re both fruit. I don’t know, just something I wanted to throw out there. Let me know. Good idea? Bad idea? What are your thoughts?
The Ursa’s also have categories dealing with art, such as Best Cover Art.
My question would be this: would you be able to read a comic and judge it solely off it’s literary merits, without letting the artwork sway your choice in any way? In my view, that would probably be a requirement if it were to ever be considered for the Coyotls.
I should also mention that comics aren’t able to be used towards membership requirements for getting into the guild, so that could be a small part of it as well?
Looking at the rules, they technically don’t exclude comics:
Works such as comic books, graphic novels, and similar type works shall be placed in an existing category as deemed appropriate by the Cóyotl Awards Chair, based primarily on their word count.
That said, given the fact that the FWG and most of its membership are pretty much focused on traditional prose, and they’re the ones doing the voting, I think a comic contender would have a tough time overcoming competition from all the regular furry novels and short stories in any given year.
Overall, though, I’d like to see the Cóyotls get a few more years’ worth of a track record going before we think about adding or changing any more categories.
Yes, although I question the rationale of that prohibition. I will probably have more to say about this in a future post, though. 
I agree with PT’s comment; I’m not inclined to campaign for adding a new Cóyotl category at this time. It’s worth noting that while the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America explicitly allow graphic novelists as members, they don’t have a separate category for comics and graphic novels, and in fact have exactly the same language in their rules re: placing them in an existing category as the Cóyotls do. (AFAICT, they’ve never nominated a comic/graphic novel for either best novella or best novel.) But, I think this is worth revisiting down the road.
I think the category would necessarily be “best writing in a comic.”
Actually, we’ve already had a graphic novel type work on the ballot. In 2013, Mouseguard: Legends of the Guard #2 edited by David Petersen was nominated for Best Anthology:
I maybe no expert in what makes a good comic, especially one good enough to win an award if you ever decided to give out one for comics. But does anyone here realize how many online furry comics there are out there. I know of at least 50, and I am always discovering new ones. Really none are bad, and some do cover more sensitive issues. I do have my favs, but really the number of them is overwhelming.
I know I shouldn’t post this because it’s snarky and not helpful… but… it’s easy and (to my ears) so funny…
Basically, just because there’s a lot of something doesn’t mean that they have to be honored by this specific award. Also, I find the idea of knowing specifically of at least fifty grains of sand hilarious.
If someone was willing to do the research I won’t mind giving them my huge list of furry comics.
I gave such an ugly snort of laughter at that and I feel I should apologize >.< In all seriousness, good way to put things into perspective.
I wonder, for the sake of focusing on the writing itself, if it might be possible to request that the scripts be submitted for nomination, so as to keep from being swayed by amazing or awful artwork, or anything in between. I know a lot happens in the transition between script and comic, but it would help to keep the point of the Coyotl’s a bit more pure.
Nothing is “submitted for nomination” in the Coyotls. Individual members of the Furry Writers’ Guild nominate things that they’ve encountered that they feel are worthy of nomination.
Speaking as someone involved with the administration of the Ursa Major Awards, yes they are a popular vote award and good art is a strong consideration, but they are almost all strongly written as well. Examples: Endtown by Aaron Neathery, Doc Rat by Jenner, and Lackadaisy by Tracy Butler. Check them out.
I’m fine with graphic novels and comics being eligible for nomination, but yeah, we don’t need a category for them yet.
I agree fully with this.
Unless we add a “Other narrative” category that would be a catchall for everything outside of print medium that would require a minimum number of contenders to make it to the final ballot, but I can see that coming off poorly.
This was posted on File 770 on September 30, but I haven’t seen it reported here yet.
That’s pretty nifty - deserving of its own topic, I’d say.