What happens when your favorite animal shelter, a beloved local brewery, and a talented local artist come together to support the animals of Douglas County? The annual Lawrence Humane + Lawrence Beer Co. Cutest Crowler Contest!For the FIFTH year, we're bringing back the super popular Cutest Crowler Contest! But to keep things interesting, we're adding a whole new category to the contest!
✨This year, we'll be featuring a dog, cat, and "other" animal on the LBC crowlers!✨
Pets submitted into the "Other" category can be any animals other than cats and dogs. Examples include (but are not limited to) horses, donkeys, pigs, chickens, rabbits, rats, reptiles, etc. As long as the animal submitted is or was truly your pet!
The Grand Prize winners will be the one cat, one dog, and one "other" animal whose entries receive the most votes in their respective categories at the close of the voting period. These animals' images will be illustrated by this year's Crowler Contest Artist, Kent Smith, and will be featured on Lawrence Beer Co. crowlers during the summer of 2026! By getting the most votes for your pet, you will be able to
guarantee that they will appear on the LBC crowlers!
We will also have a dog, cat, and "other" animal raffle so that EVERYONE has a chance to win a prize! Every photo submission (other than the Grand Prize winners) will be entered into raffles for their respective categories (so 3 raffles in total). Each entrant gets one spot in their respective raffle so that everyone has an equal and fair chance of winning. The raffle winners will ALSO be illustrated by Kent Smith and will have their illustrations featured on shirts made especially for their humans!
The Cutest Crowler contest ends at midnight (11:59:59 PM Central Time) on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Participation is easy – just choose your favorite picture of your dog or cat (or the one that shows off their personality best), upload it, and then spread the word to your family, friends, and coworkers, encouraging them to vote for your pet! The entry fee is $5 and each vote is just $1. Stay on top of the competition by watching the Leaderboard and encouraging your community to vote for your pal so they don't fall behind!
About the Artist
This year's Cutest Crowler Contest artist is none other than the super talented and beloved local artist, Kent Smith (Smitty)! Smitty is a dimension-jumping illustrator, designer, sculptor, teacher, problem-maker, problem-solver, and magic-man sharing grand visions from afar. His work can be found on toys, beer labels, custom masks, huge woodblocks prints, giant festival sculptures and tiny trading cards. Smitty uses his crazy brainpowers and a menagerie of media to solve problems and deliver creative, unexpected, solutions that are rich in play and story. Kent also celebrates teaching in the Design Department at the University of Kansas, as well as working with the Lawrence Arts Center, VanGo, Percolator and other fine organizations. You can check out examples of his fantastic artwork at
smittytown.com!
GRAND PRIZE:
The dog, cat, and "other" animal with the highest number of votes in their category when the contest ends will be illustrated by Kent Smith and featured on Lawrence Beer Co.'s crowlers this summer!
And the dog, cat, and "other" animal who win their respective category raffles when the contest ends will also be illustrated by Kent Smith and featured on shirts made exclusively for their humans!
In addition, all six winners' parents will receive:
- A framed illustration of their pet by Kent Smith
- A Lawrence Humane shirt
- A Lawrence Beer Co. gift card valued at $50
- A complimentary crowler, filled with the beer of their choice
- Complimentary registrations for Lawrence Humane's Paw Valley Challenge event in October
- Complimentary tickets to a Lawrence Humane puppy yoga event
- Bragging rights for having the cutest pets in Douglas County!
Ready to enter your pet's photo? It's easy! Just click on the 'Sign In' button to create an account, then upload a photo and tell us your pet's name. The hardest part is choosing which photo to use!
Once your pet's entry is submitted, be sure to share the contest link with your friends, family, and coworkers and encourage them to vote! Every $1 vote not only helps your pet win, but also supports Douglas County's only animal shelter. So encourage everyone to vote early and vote often!
Please check out the
rules for contest details and contact us at
marketing@lawrencehumane.org if you have questions. There is no limit to the number of pets you can enter, but be aware there's a $5 entry fee for each entry.
Ready to view our contest entrants and cast some votes? Click on the ‘View Entries' button — the competition is going to be tough!
Rules
Eligibility
- Human entrants must be over the age of 18 at the time of entry. (Lawrence Humane staff and immediate family members of staff are not eligible to participate in the contest.)
- Your pet does NOT have to be adopted from the Lawrence Humane Society to be eligible to enter the contest.
- Entry fee is $5 per photo. You may enter as many photos as you want, but you must pay the entry fee for each photo entered.
- Each photo may only have one pet in it. You MUST submit a different entry for each pet. Photos and submissions with multiple pets will be excluded from the contest without receiving money back.
- Photos must be of pets only; people are not allowed in the photo. All animals must be depicted in a humane manner.
- Pets submitted into the "Other" category can be any pet other than cats and dogs. Examples include (but are not limited to) horses, donkeys, pigs, chickens, rabbits, rats, reptiles, etc. As long as the animal submitted is or was truly your pet.
- Any photo that is deemed to be inappropriate or that does not comply with rules will be removed from the contest without the entrant receiving money back.
- Your pet does not need to be alive at the time of entry to be eligible.
Entering a Photo
- Photos must be high-resolution (300 dpi or greater).
- By entering a photo, you warrant that you have the rights to use the photo and the entry does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party or violate the privacy rights of a third party.
- Photos with professional photographer watermarks will not be eligible.
- Photos of paintings, drawings, or other artistic renderings of pets will not be eligible.
- All photos must be submitted online to be eligible.
- All photos submitted become the property of the Lawrence Humane Society.
Voting
- Each vote is $1. There is no limit to the number of times a person can vote. In fact, we encourage as many votes as possible!
- Voting period ends at midnight (11:59:59 PM Central Time) on Tuesday, March 31, 2026.
Prizes
To keep things interesting, we're adding a whole new category to the contest! In addition to featuring the dog and cat winners on the LBC crowler, we will also have an "Other Animal" category, the winner of which will also be featured on the crowler! And we'll have some fun prizes for a few lucky entrants as well! Read on to learn how it will work:
- The GRAND PRIZE winners (3) will be the one cat, one dog, and one "other" animal whose entries receive the most votes in their respective categories at the close of the voting period. These animals' images will be illustrated by Kent Smith and will be featured on Lawrence Beer Co. crowlers during the summer of 2026! (And in the event of a tie vote in any category, the winner will be the participant with the earlier entry date.)
- We will also have a dog, cat, and "other" animal raffle so that EVERYONE has a chance to win a prize!
- Every photo submission (other than the Grand Prize winners) will be entered into raffles for their respective categories (so 3 raffles in total). Each entrant gets one spot in their respective raffle so that everyone has an equal and fair chance of winning. Lawrence Humane staff will film the picking of the winning raffle entrants so that all can see the random and fair process. The raffle winners will ALSO be illustrated by Kent Smith and will have their illustrations featured on shirts made especially for their humans.
- All winners will be notified no later than April 5, 2026 via e-mail. Winners will be asked to keep from sharing the news publicly until Lawrence Humane and Lawrence Beer Co. do a public announcement.
Lawrence Humane Society is the sole authority regarding the rules of the Cutest Crowler Contest. All decisions of the Lawrence Humane Society are final.
About Lawrence Humane
The Lawrence Humane Society has been serving the city of Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas since 1951. Our mission is to nurture the human-animal bond by providing shelter, care, and advocacy for homeless and vulnerable animals, as well as resources for the pets and people in the community. We seek to demonstrate how animal shelters can become an integral social service agency in a community and create a future in which barriers do not exist in pet ownership. The Lawrence Humane Society cares for over 7,500 animals every year who come to the shelter as strays, surrendered by owners, and transferred from rural and lower-resourced neighboring animal shelters. Our life-saving rate is 95%, meaning that 95% of animals who enter Lawrence Humane have a positive outcome through reunification with owners, adoption, or transfer to another licensed agency. We are the primary pet food pantry in Douglas County, distributing over 106,000 lbs of pet food per year. Through our Crisis Pet Retention program, we keep pets and people together through houselessness, joblessness, physical and mental health crises, and more. Learn more about Lawrence Humane by going to
lawrencehumane.org!
About Lawrence Beer Co.
Lawrence Beer Co. was founded in 2017 at 826 Pennsylvania St., in a 100+-year-old stand-alone building in the popular Warehouse Arts District of East Lawrence. The space was kept as original as possible and feature a lot of the original exposed brick, concrete, and steel, as well as tables made from 120 year old wooden beams repurposed from the original building during construction. LBC (as it's popularly known) is split between the restaurant, taproom, and brewery production area. A family-friendly venue, LBC also has a large covered wrap-around deck for outside seating, as well as a lower, hardscaped area off the deck full of picnic tables for a more casual, backyard-style vibe where dogs are allowed and welcomed! LBC is proud to be community-based and community-focused, as well as caring deeply for and empowering their staff. Learn more about LBC by going to
lawrencebeerco.com!
About Kent Smith
Kent Smith (Smitty) is a dimension-jumping illustrator, designer, sculptor, teacher, problem-maker, problem solver, and magic-man sharing grand visions from afar. His work can be found on toys, beer labels, custom masks, huge woodblocks prints, giant festival sculptures and tiny trading cards. Smitty uses his crazy brainpowers and a menagerie of media to solve problems and deliver creative, unexpected, solutions that are rich in play and story. Kent also celebrates teaching in the Design Department at the University of Kansas, as well as working with the Lawrence Arts Center, VanGo, Percolator and other fine organizations. Smitty loves super-heroes, ninjas, monkeys, UFOs, cryptids, robots, ray-guns, and romance. He is always up for creative adventures and hopes you will come visit Smittytown whenever you need a fantastic escape, ridiculous adventure, and fun solutions for your creative needs. You can see examples of Smitty's artwork at
smittytown.com!