But it's not "for the better" it's just different.
Like you call the Ursas "the furry fandom’s popular choice awards" but then worry about things winning due to "popularity of a franchise or personality." Something winning a popular choice award due to popularity seems like it's working correctly. So it seems like you don't want it to be a popular choice award, you want it more to be "weigh more toward judging the quality of the pieces."
If that's what you want then opening it up to public voting is the real problem. The general viewing audience votes according to what they like based on content/connections rather than trying to evaluate it by quality. (Don't feel bad, I tilted at that particular window myself, see https://www.flayrah.com/4301/opinion-we-need-more-criticism-furry-fandom and https://www.sofurry.com/view/523530). But if your goal is an award that is based on judging the quality of the piece then scrap the voting and have a select committee of people that are capable and willing to judge on the technical criteria.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
But it's not "for the better" it's just different.
Like you call the Ursas "the furry fandom’s popular choice awards" but then worry about things winning due to "popularity of a franchise or personality." Something winning a popular choice award due to popularity seems like it's working correctly. So it seems like you don't want it to be a popular choice award, you want it more to be "weigh more toward judging the quality of the pieces."
If that's what you want then opening it up to public voting is the real problem. The general viewing audience votes according to what they like based on content/connections rather than trying to evaluate it by quality. (Don't feel bad, I tilted at that particular window myself, see https://www.flayrah.com/4301/opinion-we-need-more-criticism-furry-fandom and https://www.sofurry.com/view/523530). But if your goal is an award that is based on judging the quality of the piece then scrap the voting and have a select committee of people that are capable and willing to judge on the technical criteria.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~