Announcing the winners of the Our Canada Pet-Tacular Contest!

by OCeditordrew on Nov 4 09, 11:37 AM

After sorting through literally thousands of entries, Our Canada is proud to announce the winners of our first-ever Pet-Tacular Contest! First of all, a huge thank you to all members of the Our Canada community for contributing so many great photos, videos and blogs of your beloved pets, and for voting in the contest. It's a testament to the wonderful relationship between animals and people, and it wouldn't have been possible without you. So thanks!

And now, without further ado, the winners, who will receive cash prizes:

Photo

1st Place ($1,000): borderline, for this photo of Trim:

2nd place ($750): memphisholmes, for this photo of Memphis:

3rd place ($500): mdw, for this photo of Bark-Lee:

Video

1st place ($1,000): roxyroller, for this video of Tyrexe:

2nd place ($750): PUDZZY, for this video of Pudzzy:

3rd place ($500): helderh for this video of Kalli:

Most Unusual Pet

droopy, for his pink-eyed, white, hairless guinea pig Chesley ($500)

Thanks again to everyone who entered. Don't forget to try again next year!

23 comments

Categories: Travel, Pets, Contest

Tags: contest, pet-tacular contest, pets, winners

Pets, Our Canada, Travel

Comments

rushinmom

Nov 7 09, 09:40 AM

I think the judging should be done by a specific group of people not by how many votes are received - like how many friends/family you can bug to vote for your pictures whether they are any good or not - is my opinion. The pet pictures are good - the videos with the exception of the 1st prize winner leave a lot to be desired!!!

askala03

Nov 7 09, 12:20 PM

I completely agree with the above comment. I don't think voting was fair at all considering some people probably work in offices where they know 100's of people whom they can just get to vote. Those people voting don't even care about the contest, or even take the time to look at OTHER pictures which probably had even more potential. They're only voting cause their friends asked them too. The decisions should be made my a specific panel of judges.

dancinman

Nov 10 09, 09:48 AM

When you enter any contest you first read the rules. It was quite clear what criteria would be used to judge this particular contest. The overall rating of the photo, the number of people who rated the photo, total number of votes and number of comments were used to determine the winners. All voting was to be done on-line. If you did not have a large and varied computer network of friends and contacts then your chances of winning were significantly decreased.

Yes, in the future I also would like to see a different judging format however expecting a panel to browse through thousands of photo entries presents a huge challenge. Perhaps more categories of prizes such as Best Cat, Best Kitten, Best Puppy, Best Senior, Best Action Photo.........with only one photo entry per person, might make judging by a panel possible.

sangmor

Nov 10 09, 03:28 PM

Maybe next contest you could have honourable mention categories. Then maybe the cats, birds, rabbits... can have a chance. Even if they don't receive money as a prize, being published in the magazine is a prize in itself. There were many amazing videos and photos.

doodlelover

Nov 11 09, 07:29 PM

This contest was a SCAM! The judging was NOT done fairly. The most important criteria was supposed to be the votes and then comments & other stuff came after that. I had the most votes and I didn't win anything so what does that tell you? This contest was a SCAM!

I had 317 votes but the winner only had 302 and the 2nd place had 247 votes and 3rd place had 184 votes. I will tell my 317 fans about this site and how it unfair it is. I would also like the name of the contest coordinator so I can contact them. Totally UNFAIR!!!!

dancinman

Nov 12 09, 07:36 AM

Doodlelover;

Re-read the rules. The most important criteria was the overall rating of the photo and then the number of people who rated the photo. I can see that the number of people who rated the photo had to be considered because if a photo received a 5 star rating but was only rated by one person versus a photo that was a 2.9 rating on 302 votes versus a photo that was a 2.7 rating with 317 votes you can see where the votes play a role. Your 317 fans that voted did not rate your photos high enough to win.

I love my dog and love taking photos of him. Just because he was an "also ran" does not change my opinion and value of him. In my eyes he is still number 1. I don't need validation by placing or winning in a contest to know that this is true.

doodlelover

Nov 12 09, 05:16 PM

dancinman,

Only using the overall rating would not be legitimate because other competitors could lower your rating. My voters (the ones I know) did rate 5 stars but obviously someone else could go in and rate it 1 star to lower your rating. That is NOT fair.

I love my dogs as well and I take tons of photos but I thought this contest would be fun. I rarely enter any and I will never enter one on this site again. It is disappointing to see how unfair it is.

pezpez

Nov 14 09, 09:32 PM

SCAM does not even come close. What happened to the dog with the most votes? It din't matter how many times viewed, comments, or anything - just a total scam and that's why the results were not announced at the end of Sept as they were supposed to be. I have lost a lot of respect for this magazine. They have a lot of explaining to do.

borderline

Nov 16 09, 11:54 AM

The judging of this contest matched the criteria laid out in the rules. As far as I am concerned we were all judged the same. All photos were presented for the enjoyment and scutiny of those who chose to look. I received comments on individual photos from people I don't even know. I commented on other photos that were really focussed on the animal and captured the character of the subject.

I could suggest that the contest wasn't fair as the area where I live, the community where my family live and many others only have dial-up internet access. It sometimes took 20-40 minutes to view and vote for Trim. We had some good laughs over the voting process as one person was so relieved to finally access the site and get to vote, that in haste they rated him a one- we roared laughing!! Through emailing friends and family, chat groups and facebook we overcame internet access issues.

In regards to the skepticism in administering the contest, I was contacted by email one week after the contest closed in order to give a snail mail address so that the waiver could be mailed to me (as you recall this was an on-line contest so they had no address on file). I had 30 days to sign and return the waiver. At the 30 day deadline the winners were announced.

I wish to thank the Iams Company and Readers Digest for sponsoring this contest.

Trim the Border Collie and his Handler

PUDZZY

Nov 19 09, 10:35 PM

I am the second place winner of the video contest. I also agree with doodlelover& pezpez.

My video had more votes comments etc . I had 1658 views first place winner had 526.

Comments for my video 66- first place 21

Average rating for my video-4.84/5/160 First place 4.77/5/200.

Whether you agree my video is good or not I still think it is still not a fair contest I wrote a letter & got resiter mail back that I had to sign for . It was determined electronically& Something about weights for each value & more HUH stuff .They feel they are fair & objeective

BUT I dont feel that way.It was rated on the stars which was not explained very well & I feel that many people got thier 5 star rating & it was not judged fairly.

I am happy I won the money as will be giong to rescue a mom & 3 pups in a kill shelter Tomorrow would have been her last day.

See her story at http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=14750065 If link not working go to

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/BC120.html

She in on the front page very skinny brown hound lab? with ribs showing.

My $750 barely covers the cost of the flight for her & 3 puppys. 2 died at the kill shelter .

Readers Digest money will be put to good use. I am pround to be using it to save 5 animals even though I could use this money myself for christmas.

The dog will be named after my daughter with terminal cancer. Name Dawn will be given to her she gets here.Pups named later. I will do updates here if anyone wants them

PUDZZY

Nov 20 09, 12:44 AM

TO ANYONE WHO WON MONEY IN THE CONTEST. I do hope you also will use some of it to help a needy animal. After all we love our pets & so many have no home & none to love them

Consider rescuing a shelter dog or cat please

asian15

Nov 20 09, 04:55 PM

What a disappointment. They need to fix the judging so it is totally above board. Makes you wonder about ALL the contests related to Reader's Digest. I would not be a happy corporate sponsor with this kind of feedback and what took so long IF it was determiend electronically.

doodlelover

Nov 20 09, 05:17 PM

Borderline is the only one that is happy with this contest because he won with less votes than me. This contest was NOT fair and I intend to tell everyone who will listen including the 317 people who voted for me, Reader's Digest and Iams. My rating could have been lowered by my competitors by rating my photos one star. This would allow them to win because I didn't think of doing something like that. What a farce!!!

tracya

Nov 20 09, 05:38 PM

This is just wrong in so many ways. Not fair at all, shame on this site. I won't be back.

borderline

Nov 21 09, 11:22 AM

To suggest that I am the only person who is happy just because I won is ludricrous- I would still be happy regardless, simply because there are far more things than this contest that make me happy.

I faced the same 'attack' on my ratings as doodlelover. To suggest that I orchestrated the whole thing (on a dial-up internet system!) in order to win is insulting. For every person who voted a five for Trim a slightly greater number rated him a one so that his overall rating was 2.90 Were any photos deserving of a one star rating- no, did it happen in the pursuit of a prize- obviously yes.

I do not profess to know how the weighting was done on each parameter judged in the contest however I do know that Trim ended up with the highest number of comments, was most viewed and had the highest overall rating with albums over 100 people who rated it. Yes, doodlelover had 5% more people who rated their album so in that measurement we were second. When you write a test true/false are generally worth one point, a short one sentence answer might be worth 5 points and a paragraph might be worth 15 points- not all answers carry the same value. I believe that Puddzy was trying to describe such a system whereby not all the 'votes' were worth the same value.

For those of you who won't be back or won't enter again, the only person that it impacts is yourself.

If you want to know how the judging was done why not ask by clicking on the "contact us' that appears on the bottom of each and every page.

My suggestions for future contests are that there be no cash prizes, no on-line voting, no videos and very distinct categories for photo entries, one entry per category and only one prize per person so that you can't be a winner in multiple categories.

Trim the Border Collie and his Handler

mjteed

Nov 21 09, 06:43 PM

I'm sure we all have things that make us happy besides this site or it's contests. I don't think that is what was meant. You seem to be the only person that is happy with the way the judging was done or at least the only one commenting positively.

I don't think this site should have any more contests since they don't seem to be able to do it properly and nobody working for Canoe space has addressed the problem or made any comments.

I also must admit that the number of views of your photos was a little outrageous. Take that for what it's worth.

borderline

Nov 23 09, 06:27 AM

Perhaps I am naive in thinking that before a contest is organized there is a lot of input by various people including a legal department as obviously there will be disputes and questions that arise that must stand up to scrutiny.

It also surprises me that no one appears to monitor the comments and provide information on how to access "the rules". It also surprises me that people use the comments section to snipe at other competitors, question their morals and make threats about spamming the site and telling all their friends about how terrible this all was.

Get the rules. If you want to dispute them, get a lawyer. The contest is over so make some constructive suggestions for next year or any other future contests so that history doesn't repeat itself.

Trim the Border Collie and his Handler

maggymck

Nov 23 09, 11:44 AM

Yikes. I would have disliked playing with some of you at recess! The rules applied to all of us. Would I have liked to have won? Of course. Do I begrudge the winners? Not at all. I had fun looking at all these "well loved" pets and was pleased that others voted for mine. As for the comment that asked the winner to donate some of the prize, I'd say you have more balls than a tennis court. Lets all try to get along. There's worse things in life than not winning a contest. Merry Christmas!

PUDZZY

Nov 25 09, 09:24 PM

I did not ask the winner to donate. I think because it was put on by a pet food company & it was thier pet that won the contest for them that they should think about using some of it for good of other not so lucky pets.

I was a $750 winner & 1 did rescue 5 dogs with my winnings . I have 2 children with cancer & am on a pension but I turned my whole winnings over to save a mom & 3 pups today from death row.

We are all pet lovers here & should think about other animals not so lucky as our cuddled, well fed pets. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL RESCUED ANIMALS

PUDZZY

Nov 25 09, 09:35 PM

Ps also about the contest .No one was monitoring the site for almost 3 weeks when I wroteto the editors about editors pick been up for over 2 weeks

They emailed me back to say sorry everyone was away on hoidays & it would be corrected . I have proof as I emailed about 5 different people & all got out of office replys etc . I still have the email replys. One even said Have a lovely time in hawaii . So i do wonder about this contest

askala03

Nov 25 09, 11:26 PM

I love how canoe space deleted one of my comments. Basically, they're reading our complaints yet none of them have offered any explanations or have admitted fault in any of this. They don't like confrontations so they hide behind some website and delete anything that seems threatening.

This comment will probably get deleted too!

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