World Spay Day 2013 Pet Pageant

It’s not too late to enter your pet in the all new World Spay Day 2013 Pet Pageant! In celebration of the 18th annual World Spay Day, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is hosting an online Pet Pageant where your pet takes center stage.

There are six categories in the Pageant – every pet photo submitted will automatically be entered into the Main Pageant category for both the Judges' Choice Awards and the Popular Pet Awards for free, and during the entry process, you will also have the option to enter any of five optional categories, including Best Hair, Best Smile, Most Photogenic, Best Personality, and Ugly-Cute, for a small entry fee of $5 per category.

The Winners of each category of the Judges' Choice Awards and the Popular Pet Awards will each receive the following:

• One personalized pet collar engraved with the Winner's pet's name and his/her pageant title. Pets who are unable to wear collars will receive an alternate prize selected by the HSUS. 
• The Winner's photograph will be featured on both the HSUS website and the Pageant website in April 2013 as part of a slideshow announcement of the Pageant winners. 
• The Winner will be permitted to select one of the organizations participating in the HSUS's World Spay Day grant program to receive a $1,000 grant from the HSUS to use in furthering the participating organization's spay/neuter program. 

Additionally, each Winner in the Main Pageant category of both the Judges' Choice Awards and the Popular Choice Awards will receive the following:

• One copy of Robin Layton's book A Letter to My Dog; 
• One copy of Seth Casteel's book Underwater Dogs; 
• The Winner's entry will also be featured as a "Pet of the Week" in April 2013. 

All Runners-up in the Popular Pet Awards will have their entered photographs featured on the Pageant website in April 2013.

For a full statement of the rules and restrictions regarding these prizes, please see the official rules.

World Spay Day is an annual event of the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International to inspire people to save animals' lives by spaying or neutering pets and feral cats. World Spay Day officially takes place on Tuesday, February 26, but the Pet Pageant runs through Friday, March 15.

All donations made to the HSUS through the Pageant by contestants and/or voters, as well as all optional category entry fees collected by the HSUS, benefit a grant program created to help participating organizations continue their valuable spay and neuter work after World Spay Day 2013 ends.