Would you like to see YOUR pet in Independent Animal Rescue's 2025 calendar?
Of course you do! Get you camera or phone out and snap a shot of your furry friend and enter it in IAR's 2024 Pet Photo Contest for a chance to win a full-page feature in our upcoming 2025 calendar.
Entering the contest is easy! Submit a photo of your pet, along with a $5 entry fee, and respond to automated prompts to briefly tell us a little about your pet—for example, how they came into your life or what they love to do when they aren't posing for the camera.
Then let the voting begin! Each vote costs only $1 and anyone can vote as many times as they want. Encourage your family, friends and colleagues to go online right away and vote for your pet.
The contest is open for all companion cats and dogs– they do not need to be from IAR.
The contest begins at 10:00:00 AM (Eastern Time) on Friday, June 14, 2024, and ends at 8:00:00 PM (Eastern Time) on Friday, June 28, 2024. Don't delay– send in a photo of your adorable pet and start casting your votes!
Every dollar raised from this pet photo contest and subsequent calendar sales will be used to help dogs and cats in need – providing foster and veterinary care, spay/neuter procedures, and adoption services.Help make a difference for the animals by entering and voting today, it's easy and fun!
Reserve a Day to Honor Your Pet
Just want a guaranteed spot in the calendar? Reserve a day to honor your pet. This can be for your pet's adoption anniversary, birthday, loved one's birthday, memorial or really any special day! Your pet's photo will appear on the day of your choice. Just choose your favorite photo and then choose the day and pay! First come first served! Once a date has been reserved, it will no longer be available.
Reserve Your Day Here →Want to Order Your Calendar(s)?
Please consider ordering a calendar. This will help us purchase the right amount of calendars so we don't waste valuable funds on extra stock.
Calendar Order →Prizes
GRAND PRIZE: The top overall vote winner will be featured in a full page of IAR's 2025 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 2025 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 2025 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 2025 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 2025 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 2025 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 2025 calendar. Winners from above categories will be excluded from Judges' Choice, so there will be no repeat photos in the calendar. The judges will consider the quality of the photo and the story/pet bio when selecting the two winners. ONLY IAR ADOPTED PETS are eligible for the Judges' Choice awards.
PET COLLAGE: The remaining 40 photographs with the most votes will be included in IAR's calendar on one of two collage pages.
About UsIndependent Animal Rescue is a foster-based, volunteer-led cat and dog rescue based in Durham, NC. Our mission is to rescue and provide safe and responsible care for homeless, abandoned, and abused animals. We strive to help all cats and dogs in need through our service programs. We will serve our communities through promotion of spay or neuter for all companion animals, and the education of children and adults in humane care, respect and responsibility for animals on this earth.
- 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 8:00:00 PM (Eastern Time) on Friday, June 28, 2024.
Entering A Photo
- The entry period is from 10:00:00 AM (Eastern Time) on Friday, June 14, 2024 until 8:00:00 PM (Eastern Time) on Friday, June 28, 2024.
- 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 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.