Our 5th Annual Calendar Contest Has Begun!

Here’s Yoshi McCabe. He had 5 major cancer surgeries by the time he was 5 years old. Yoshi was one of 2011’s over 120 Cancer Can’t Keep a Good Dog Down Calendar contestants. Just look at that smile. True Puppy Up! Spirit.

What’s more fun than a room full of puppies? It’s our Annual 2 Million Dogs’ Cancer Can’t Keep a Good Dog Down Calendar contest!

This is the fifth year that 2 Million Dogs is producing our beautiful calendar, and we’d like you to participate.

Enter the 2 Million Dogs’ Calendar contest to honor your canine cancer hero and have a chance to personally make the decision that might help end cancer forever.  The 13 top vote-getters will choose which cutting-edge Broad Institute cancer research project this year’s proceeds will fund.

UPDATE! Voting has started! YEAH! Go here to vote!

Voting deadline has been extended until midnight EDT, August 8th. Plenty of time to vote early and often!

How does it work? Until July 27th, you can enter your dog(s) into the 5th Annual 2 Million Dogs calendar contest. All entries must be in by the end of the day on July 27. We gather your photo and story entries, publish them online for everyone to see and read, and then the voting begins. The year’s calendar proceeds will be dedicated to The Broad Institute and their research into canine cancer.

Who Can Enter? Anyone with a dog who currently has or has had cancer (living or passed) can enter, including dogs who have entered before. Entering your dog is free and easy.

What do I send and where? Send a high resolution digital photo of your dog and his or her story (about 150 words) to Erich at erich@2milliondogs.org. Make sure the photo is a minimum of 500kb

Murphy was on our 2012 calendar cover.

resolution. 1 Meg resolution or greater is ideal for reproduction in our calendar. We accept the following photo file formats: .jpg and .tiff. If you have had more than one dog with cancer, of course you can enter more than one photo and story. Please don’t forget to include the name of your dog, your first and last name, and your email. And please don’t forget to send us your story. (Yes, sometimes that happens.)

Pete was on our 2011 calendar cover.

What happens then? When we receive your entry we’ll let you know in an email within 24 hours. If it needs corrections (story too long, photo too small), we will send you an email telling you.

How does it work? We’ll collect all the stories and photos throughout June and July. As entries arrive, we’ll post them here to our 2 Million Dogs’ blog so you can have plenty of time to meet all the contestants. We’ll start posting them to our web site where live voting will begin.

Lucie was on our 2010 calendar cover.

Voting continues to midnight, EDT August 8.

How do we vote? We’ll post a link to our web site and here on the blog which will take you to where you can cast your votes.  All the dogs’ stories and photos will be available to view and you’ll be able to cast your votes for your favorite dogs. 1 dollar = 1 vote. The 13 dogs with the most votes win places on this year’s calendar.

Princess Daisy was our very first calendar cover.

Where Do My Voting Dollars Go?  We’re very excited to announce that this year the proceeds from the Cancer Can’t Keep a Good Dog Down Calendar will be dedicated to funding a canine cancer study with The Broad Institute. The top 13 winners will decide which one of three studies to fund: osteosarcoma, lymphoma, or mast cell tumors  (For more on each study, please click on the links.)

What makes the 2 Million Dogs Calendar so special?  One of 2 Million Dogs’ steadfast goals has always been education about canine cancer and comparative oncology. And one of the best ways we can do this is through your stories and photos, which genuinely inspire and encourage so many others.

Helping fund cutting-edge canine cancer research is another one of our calendar’s vital objectives. This year we’re working with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Why Broad? Because their researchers gain insights into cancers that affect both dogs and people. Because, as we all know …  cancer. touches. everyone.

A Gallery Photo page from 2011.

But what makes our calendars unique?  Not only do the winners pick their special months, but every dog entered has his or her photo in the calendar. No one gets left behind. We have a whole section of gallery photos (see photo) dedicated to all of the dogs entered that year.  We also include all 13 of last year’s winners, and our calendar includes not only the regular ‘people’ holidays but dozens of special dog holidays like: National Puppy Day, Pet Theft Awareness Day, Take Your Dog to Work Day, World Animal Remembrance Month, Pet Cancer Awareness Month, etc.

Our calendars are truly unique and one-of-a-kind keepsakes.

Immortalize your canine cancer hero in two very special ways:
Your pup’s photo and story will provide inspiration for an entire month in the 2 Million Dogs’ 2013 Calendar. And you will have a personal hand in directing our fight against cancer!

We’re looking forward to all this year’s entries and, through your participation, funding vital canine cancer research through The Broad Institute. But we can’t do it without your help. So, come join the fun, enter your pup, vote for your favorites, and help make a difference. Directly support critical canine cancer research.

We know you’ll want to learn more about the ground-breaking research The Broad Institute is doing, so please follow this link.

What do we mean by high resolution photos and why do you need to send us high resolution photos?

The resolution of a photograph determines the output quality of a photo. The higher the resolution, the less pixels will be visible, even after enlargement.  We ask you send us high resolution digital photos so the images on the calendar look smooth and sharp.

Taking High Resolution Photos — On your digital camera, determine the maximum megapixel available. These numbers can range from 2.0 megapixels to 160. Because your photos will be reproduced in the calendar, make sure to take them at the maximum resolution.

Stay tuned to this blog for our pups of the day …