Do you have one of the cutest dogs on the entire East Coast?!
Submit your best photo for a chance to be featured in our 2026 calendar!
Underhound Railroad is a dog rescue operating on the East Coast of the United States, saving dogs from overcrowded shelters in rural areas of the Carolinas and finding adoptive homes for them as far north as Maine. All proceeds from this contest directly support our mission of rescuing dogs in need and providing them with medical care and a safe and loving foster home until their furever home can be found.
The contest is open to ANY U.S. EAST COAST DOG, with an entry fee of only $10! Your photo entry does not have to be of an Underhound Railroad dog, but we ask that the contest be dedicated to rescue dogs.
Upload your favorite photo of your pup in the highest resolution possible, and tell us a few words about what makes them special or how they came into your life. Then invite your family and friends to vote for your photo!
The twelve entry photos with the most votes will be featured in the calendar, with the top vote-getter winning a spot on the cover as well as one of the months inside. We hope to include any remaining entry photos in a collage on the back cover or page of the calendar as space permits. Read below about the “Reserve a Spot” feature, which is another way to ensure your dog’s spot in the calendar!
After the contest’s conclusion, the calendar will be available for purchase to the public through a link that we will post here.
More About VotingVoting is easy and fun and open to everyone. Votes are $1 each. You may vote as often as you like during the contest, and you may vote for your own dog! You can apply all your votes to one photo or vote for multiple photos during the contest.
For the best chance to win, be sure to spread the word about your dog's entry into the contest. Ask family and friends to go online and VOTE for your photo.
Don't have a rescue dog or a favorite photo of your dog to submit? No worries, you can participate and support Underhound Railroad by browsing the cute photos and stories, picking your favorites and voting!
Check back often, photos will be added throughout the contest.
Reserve a Spot to Honor Your Pet
Another option is to honor your pet or celebrate a gotcha-day or birthday by reserving an empty grid space (before or after the numbered squares) for their photo. Choose a favorite photo, a month, and pay. (This is a great option if your photo is cute but not very high resolution, as these photos will be much smaller in the calendar.) Each month has a limited number of squares in each grid and will be filled on a first come, first served basis; don't delay!
Prizes
Prizes will be:
1st PRIZE
The top winner with the most votes will earn the coveted cover spot of the 2026 East Coast Dogs Calendar as well as one of the month spots. They will receive a complimentary copy of the calendar as well.
2nd through 12th PRIZES
The contestants with the second through twelfth highest number of votes will be featured in the 2026 East Coast Dogs Calendar as one of the months of the year!
All 12 winners will be featured in a post on Underhound Railroad’s Facebook and Instagram pages!
What makes a great photo?
High quality photos are ideal, if possible! To ensure that your image is of the appropriate quality to be used in the calendar, please follow these guidelines:
- Photos should ideally not be too tightly cropped (to give us flexibility to crop to fit the calendar proportions).
- Set your camera/phone to take photos at the highest resolution. If possible, photos should ideally be about 3600 x 2700 pixels in order to be used for the monthly calendar page. (In general, your submitted photo's file size should be measured in MB rather than KB).
- All photos must be original and unedited. No collages, background removal, or other alterations. However, basic photo editing and enhancements to color, contrast and exposure are permitted.
- You will be contacted if there are any issues with the photos you submit.
If the winning photos do not meet the formatting criteria, Underhound Railroad will reach out to the winners to try to arrange to use a different photo of the same dog(s). We can also try using two smaller pictures of the same dog on the dog's page, rather than one large one.
More from our rules:- Entrants warrant that their Submission is an original image, not copied from others, and it does not violate the rights of any other person or entity.
- Photos must contain one (or multiple) dogs with no people in the photo.
- Only one entry per pet. However, your photo may contain more than one pet. You may not then submit those same pets separately.
- Pictured dogs do not have to be adopted from Underhound Railroad but we request that they be rescue dogs.
- Photos from a previous year are allowed as long as they have not been entered in an Underhound Railroad photo contest already.
- Photographs may not be AI generated or embellished with text or art, copyrighted or watermarked. However, basic photo editing and enhancements to color, contrast and exposure are permitted.
- Entries will be ineligible for entry and removed if deemed inappropriate/offensive by contest hosts.
- Underhound Railroad reserves the right to determine valid entries, at its sole discretion.
- All photos will appear in the online gallery on the Contest Website.
1. Eligibility The 2026 East Coast Dogs Calendar Contest (the "Contest") is open to legal residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are at least eighteen years old at the time of entry.
2. Sponsor The Contest is sponsored by Underhound Railroad, Greenville, ME 04441. Underhound Railroad is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (tax id 47-1531047).
3. Agreement to Official Rules Participation in the Contest constitutes entrant's unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these official rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which are final and binding.
4. Contest Period The Contest begins at 10:00 AM (Eastern Time) on Monday, September 1, 2025 and ends at 10:00 AM (Eastern Time) on Saturday, October 4, 2025 (the "Contest Period").
5. How to Enter Enter by visiting the Contest Website (http://gogophotocontest.com/underhoundrailroad) and following the directions provided to fill out the entry information, upload a digital photograph, and submit.
The entry fee is a $10 donation to Underhound Railroad for each photo entered into the Contest. There is no limit on the number of entries.
Photo submission guidelines:- Entrants warrant that their Submission is an original image, not copied from others, and it does not violate the rights of any other person or entity.
- Photos must contain one (or multiple) dogs with no people in the photo.
- Only one entry per pet. However, your photo may contain more than one pet. You may not then submit those same pets separately.
- Photos should ideally be high-resolution digital files to be considered for a full month's image (suggested resolution is 3600 x 2700 pixels).
- Pictured dogs do not have to be adopted from Underhound Railroad but we request that they be rescue dogs.
- Photos from a previous year are allowed as long as they have not been entered in an Underhound Railroad photo contest already.
- Photographs may not be AI generated or embellished with text or art, copyrighted or watermarked. However, basic photo editing and enhancements to color, contrast and exposure adjustments are permitted.
- Entries will be ineligible for entry and removed if deemed inappropriate/offensive by contest hosts.
- Underhound Railroad reserves the right to determine valid entries, at its sole discretion.
- All photos will appear in the online gallery on the Contest Website.
6. Winner Selection The winners (1st through 12th place) will be chosen by popular vote. The selection process will be determined by electronic tabulations under the supervision of Gogo Photo Contest. IN THE EVENT OF A TIE FOR A POTENTIAL WINNER, Underhound Railroad WILL SELECT THE WINNER.
Voting will be conducted as follows:
- Voting is open to anyone, including those with photos in the contest.
- Voting requires a minimum donation of $5 ($1/vote).
- There is no maximum limit on the number of votes one can buy.
- Voters may vote for more than one photo.
- All donations are non-refundable.
7. Winner Notification The Sponsor will attempt to notify the potential winners via email on or about 10:00 AM (Eastern Time) on Saturday, October 4, 2025. If the potential winner cannot be contacted within five (5) days after the date of the first attempt to contact him/her, the Sponsor may select an alternate potential winner in his/her place from the remaining non-winning, eligible entries.
8. Prizes 1st PRIZE
- The top winner with the most votes will earn the coveted cover spot of the 2026 East Coast Dogs Calendar as well as one of the month spots. They will receive a complimentary copy of the calendar as well.
2nd through 12th PRIZES
- The contestants with the second through twelfth highest number of votes will be featured in the 2026 East Coast Dogs Calendar as one of the months of the year!
All 12 winners will be featured in a post on Underhound Railroad’s Facebook and Instagram pages!
9. Release and Limitations of Liability Underhound Railroad cannot be held liable for damaged, incomplete, entries or notices. Furthermore, Underhound Railroad reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, cancel, terminate, or suspend this Contest any time, for any reason or no reason at all, without recompense or recourse. By participating in the Contest, entrants agree to release and hold harmless Underhound Railroad and the contest Sponsors and each of their respective officers, directors, representatives, volunteers and agents (the Released Parties) from and against any claims of any nature arising out of participation in the Contest or receipt or use of any prize. Underhound Railroad is not responsible for prizes which are lost or stolen.
10. Rights By submitting a photo to Underhound Railroad Photo Contest, you grant Underhound Railroad the right to use, reproduce, and display the submitted photo in any media, including our website, social media platforms, and promotional materials, without compensation or further permission. The photo may be used in connection with the contest or any other activities and programs conducted by Underhound Railroad. By participating, you confirm that you are the owner of the photo or have obtained all necessary rights to submit it and grant these permissions.
11. Privacy Information collected from entrants is subject to Sponsor's
privacy policy. In addition, GoGo Photo Contest collects some personal data from its users as outlined in its
privacy policy.
Please send questions to
support@underhoundrailroad.org.
About UsSince our inception in 2009, Underhound Railroad has successfully rescued and rehomed well over 1,000 dogs in need.
With our focus on rescue from rural areas in North and South Carolina, where shelters are overflowing with abandoned dogs waiting to be loved, our network of Underhound volunteers work hard to prevent undeserved deaths, see that medical, emotional, and behavioral needs are tended to, and provide transportation as well as a loving foster family to the pups on their journey to finding their forever homes. Most of our dogs find their home in New England, especially Maine, where we have a network of volunteers, fosters, and adoptive homes just waiting to welcome these pups with open arms.
Donations are absolutely essential to our continued operations. Funds raised are used primarily to pay veterinary bills and provide training to our dogs. We are entirely volunteer run.
Underhound Railroad Saving Lives, One Shelter Dog at a Time.