Purple Paws Calendar Contest: How Voting Works & How to Win

What the Purple Paws Calendar Contest is and who runs it

The Purple Paws Calendar Contest is a photo fundraiser built around dogs and run by Sojourner Center, an organization whose address is listed as 2330 E Fillmore St, Phoenix, AZ 85006. The ballot itself explains the origin: the Purple Paws Calendar was created by Kimberly, an Arizona-based dog photographer, rescue advocate, and domestic violence survivor who wanted to use her art to make a difference. Every photo in the project, the page says, represents healing, hope, and second chances.

The vote runs on GoGo Photo Contest, which specializes in photo-entry fundraisers, at the address gogophotocontest.com/goodvibesdogtography-purplepaws. The page carries the standard fundraiser furniture: a View Entries gallery, a rules tab, a prizes tab and a Sign In link. The copyright line notes that the organization holds copyright to all professional photos taken but may provide winners with digital and/or printed copies.

Facts at a glance

Classified here in the best-of vertical, it is less a readers-choice poll than a charity calendar competition, which shapes everything about how support works on it.

The dated facts: editions, windows and what is not published

Confirmed editions of the Purple Paws Calendar Contest run in 2025 and 2026, both living on the same GoGo Photo Contest ballot address. That two-year run is the basis for treating the program as an annual fixture on the Arizona fundraiser calendar.

The 2025 edition carries the fullest published schedule. A launch notice ran November 1 through November 15, 2025, the dog entry period opened November 1 and closed November 30th, 2025, and the voting period ran across the same stretch, priced at one dollar per vote. The page clock displayed US Mountain Time throughout.

Sojourner Center has not published day-level open and close times for the current cycle, a list of the ballot's categories, or any eligibility terms; confirm on the live ballot each cycle. The prizes tab exists on the ballot, but no published list of its contents accompanies it, so the specific calendar placement or photo package a winning dog receives is also something to read on the live rules and prizes tabs before entering.

One date on the ballot page should not be mistaken for an edition: the masthead shows a 2027 label above the gallery, but an edition year only counts once its cycle has actually run. The confirmed editions remain 2025 and 2026 until the next cycle closes.

How a supporter votes on the Purple Paws ballot today

Voting here is a purchase, not a free click. The 2025 page set the exchange at one dollar equal to one vote, so a supporter who wants a specific dog on the calendar converts spending directly into that entry's tally. There is no indication the ballot runs free daily votes alongside the paid ones.

The literal sequence is short. A supporter loads the ballot at gogophotocontest.com/goodvibesdogtography-purplepaws, selects View Entries, and scrolls the dog gallery. Each photo carries its own vote control, so the choice happens at the entry level. Selecting a photo leads into the vote flow, where the dollar amount is chosen and paid. The Sign In link at the top of the page lets a returning supporter manage that activity across the window rather than starting fresh each visit.

Timing matters in both directions. During the 2025 cycle the entry period and the voting period overlapped, running November 1 through November 30, 2025, which means new dogs could join the gallery while votes were already being cast. A late-entering photo therefore had the same calendar length to collect support as an early one. The page clock reads US Mountain Time, so deadline-day supporters outside that zone should convert before casting final votes.

How this ballot sits beside its Arizona neighbours

Purple Paws is unusual among the Arizona ballots covered here because it is a single-organization charity fundraiser rather than a community readers-choice award. The other Arizona programs in this family are all best-of contests run by or for local media and community groups: Best of Havasu, Best of Sedona Kudos, Best of the 'Burg (Wickenburg Sun), Best of the Desert AZ Community's Choice Awards, Best of Verde Valley and CommunityVotes Buckeye.

Those ballots invite readers to choose favorite local businesses across many categories, and each one answers to a different publisher running its own schedule. Purple Paws asks a narrower question, which dog belongs on the next calendar, and answers it with a fundraising mechanic: money cast as votes flows to Sojourner Center's work with domestic violence survivors and their pets.

That difference changes strategy. In a readers-choice contest, support usually means mobilizing free daily clicks from a local audience. Here, because the 2025 page priced votes at a dollar each, a supporter's network contributes funds as well as tally. It also changes the platform's character: GoGo Photo Contest pages are built around a single photo gallery and a prize structure, not a grid of business categories, so the advice that fits a best-of ballot only partly transfers.

Strengthening support for a Purple Paws entry

Because each dollar equals one vote, the most direct way to lift a dog's standing is to make giving easy: share the entry's own link from the gallery, say what the money supports, and ask for a small spend early in the window rather than in the final days when every other supporter is doing the same. Sojourner Center publishes no statement about outside vote assistance, so the rules tab is the place to verify what is permitted before involving any third party.

Broaden the ask beyond the usual circle by tying the entry to the project's story, healing, hope and second chances, which gives friends-of-friends a reason to give even without knowing the dog. Practical outreach methods that work on paid photo ballots of this kind are laid out in our guide to getting more votes online. And since votes here cost money by design, treat the total as a fundraising figure: a handful of modest supporters usually outperforms a single large push, and every dollar cast goes to Sojourner Center regardless of which dog wins the calendar.