Our annual calendar pet photo contest is one of our biggest and most popular fundraisers of the year — and it runs June 1 through June 30! Let’s see those PAWFECT photos!

Throughout the month of June, you can upload your pets’ photos ($35 donation per photo entry) and ask your friends and family to cast votes ($1 per vote) online. All submitted pictures will be in the 2025 calendar, but the animals with the most votes will win some super neat prizes! There will be weekly challenges to help you win bonus votes, too.

All kinds of animals (dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, guinea pigs, etc.) can be submitted, and do not have to have been adopted from the AWLA or live in Alexandria.

The GRAND PRIZE winner will grace the front and back calendar cover, receive a professional photo session, receive year-round invitations to AWLA events as “Alexandria’s 2025 Animal of the Year,” have their photo featured on transport buses throughout northern Virginia, and be featured in a full-page ad in a local magazine!

The next THREE winners will receive professional photo sessions, receive full-page photo on the month of their choice in the 2025 calendar, and be featured in a full-page ad in a local magazine.

There are two ways you can participate:

Enter the contest! Submit your favorite picture of your pet(s) for a chance to win amazing prizes (including the opportunity to be named Alexandria’s Animal of 2025). Each entry is $35.

Vote for your favorite pets! Each vote = $1 and the proceeds fund the AWLA’s critical work to help animals and people in our community.

Through your support and participation in events like our annual photo calendar contest, we can continue to go above and beyond, not only for animals at the shelter, but for pets – and the people who love them – across the community, providing food, guidance, medical support and peace of mind.

Find more information, including full rules, contest challenges, and prizes, here.