Rules

• Contest entries must be for companion cats and dogs.
• There are separate IAR and Non-IAR Dog and Cat categories (four categories total). Two winners will be selected from each of these four categories independently. 
• There are 10 full pages in the calendar to win and 2 collage pages featuring 40 entrants with the next-highest vote totals. See HOW TO WIN below to learn how votes will be broken down and how winning photos will be determined across categories.
• Each $1 donation in support of an entry is valued as 1 vote.
• Calendar months cannot be reserved.
• IAR reserves the right to remove an entry for not adhering to the rules or for containing inappropriate content.
• Voting ends at 10:00:00 PM (Eastern Time) on Friday, June 17, 2022.

• The entry period is from 10:00:00 AM (Eastern Time) on Friday, June 3, 2022 until 8:00:00 PM (Eastern Time) on Friday, June 17, 2022.
• Photos of any companion cats and dogs will be accepted. Your pet does NOT have to be adopted from Independent Animal Rescue to be eligible to enter the contest.
• Photos must be high resolution (at least 2500 x 1800 pixels) to be included in the calendar. You can see your photo’s resolution by viewing its properties. Low resolution photos will look blurry when sized for the calendar.
• People are not allowed in the photo– pets only.
• Your photo may contain more than one pet.
• The pet in your photo must be adopted from IAR to be eligible to win Judges' Choice (see Prizes for more information).
• We cannot accept physical photographs, heavily edited photos, or photos with stickers, text, or emojis. No copyrighted or professional photographs will be accepted.
• If your photo wins a calendar spot but is not high enough quality or sized appropriately to be included in the calendar, we may ask for another photo.
• Once your photo is entered in the contest, you agree to let IAR use it for print and marketing purposes.

Is there a pet's birthday, "gotcha" anniversary, or other important date you would like to commemorate? You can reserve a day for your pet’s photo to appear on the calendar for just a $15 donation! (We may not be able to accommodate the request if it conflicts with another request, and in the event of conflict you will be contacted for an alternate day.)

• GRAND PRIZE: The top overall vote winner will be featured on one full month of IAR’s 2023 calendar and will also be on the cover.  This winner will be the winner of their respective category (IAR Dog, IAR Cat, Non-IAR Dog or Non-IAR Cat). The entrant will receive a free 2023 IAR calendar.
• TOP IAR DOGS: The two IAR dog entries that receive the most votes will each have their pet’s photo on one full month of IAR’s 2023 calendar. The months will be determined by IAR. Entries must mention that the dog was adopted from IAR.
• TOP IAR CATS: The two IAR cat entries that receive the most votes will each have their pet’s photo on one full month of IAR’s 2023 calendar. The months will be determined by IAR. Entries must mention that the cat was adopted from IAR.
• TOP NON-IAR DOGS: The two non-IAR dog entries that receive the most votes will each have their pet’s photo on one full month of IAR’s 2023 calendar. The months will be determined by IAR.
• TOP NON-IAR CATS: The two non-IAR cat entries that receive the most votes will each have their pet’s photo on one full month of IAR’s 2023 calendar. The months will be determined by IAR.
• JUDGES’ CHOICE: Two entries (one dog and one cat) will be selected by IAR judges and will each be featured on one full month of IAR’s 2023 calendar. Winners of above categories will be excluded from Judges' Choice.
  • The judges will consider the quality of the photo and the story/pet bio when selecting the two Judges' Choice winners. ONLY IAR ADOPTED PETS are eligible for the Judges' Choice award.
• PET COLLAGE: The remaining 40 photographs with the most votes will be included in IAR’s calendar on one of two collage pages.