If judging purely by technical merit, perhaps. Yet what matters for the UMA is fan appeal, and it is by no means inevitable that fans will choose professional animation over, say, a particularly strong example of amateur live-action. What matters most is whether they have seen, or at least heard of a work.
Other categories are highly competitive. In several years, fan comics have won; in others, works by professional comic artists. Increasingly, the line is blurred - Twokinds could be seen as an fan-comic, yet it raised around $200,000 last year. Likewise, I suspect Heat (which for several years won Best Magazine) makes a not-insignificant amount of money. You could argue that these works are not by "outsiders", but how much are you willing to bet that My Little Pony will not be a dark-horse candidate for Best Graphic Story next year?
If judging purely by technical merit, perhaps. Yet what matters for the UMA is fan appeal, and it is by no means inevitable that fans will choose professional animation over, say, a particularly strong example of amateur live-action. What matters most is whether they have seen, or at least heard of a work.
Just last year, Bitter Lake was nominated for Best Motion Picture, with our resident movie critic uncertain of its chances. It's unclear how close the vote was, but I imagine it had its supporters. Similarly, Crayon Dragon is a student film.
Other categories are highly competitive. In several years, fan comics have won; in others, works by professional comic artists. Increasingly, the line is blurred - Twokinds could be seen as an fan-comic, yet it raised around $200,000 last year. Likewise, I suspect Heat (which for several years won Best Magazine) makes a not-insignificant amount of money. You could argue that these works are not by "outsiders", but how much are you willing to bet that My Little Pony will not be a dark-horse candidate for Best Graphic Story next year?