2026 Calendar of Superstar Pets Photo Contest: How Voting Works & How to Win

What the Superstar Pets contest is and who runs it

The 2026 Calendar of Superstar Pets Photo Contest is a pet photo fundraiser organized by SPCA Monterey County, an animal welfare organization whose address is 1002 Monterey-Salinas Hwy, Salinas, CA 93908. GoGo Photo Contest, a platform that carries many nonprofit photo fundraisers, hosts the ballot, and the 2026 edition lives at gogophotocontest.com/spcamc-2025. The shelter invites pet lovers to upload digital photos of their beloved companions, and the winning photos appear in the 2026 SPCA Calendar of Superstar Pets, a printed calendar the organization publishes from the contest.

The vertical is pets, and the market is Monterey County, California, with the shelter drawing support from Monterey, Salinas and the surrounding county. The ballot page carries the standard GoGo Photo Contest navigation: participate, view entries, contest rules, prizes, frequently asked questions and a sign-in link, so supporters can move between browsing entries and casting votes on the same site.

Facts at a glance

Because the fundraiser doubles as a calendar production effort, the contest rewards photos that work in print as well as entries that rally the most donor support, which shapes how entrants campaign for votes.

The dated record for the SPCA Monterey County calendar

Two editions of the Superstar Pets contest are confirmed: 2025 and 2026. The shelter describes the fundraiser as annual, and each edition produces the following year's SPCA calendar, which points to a 2027 edition next. The shelter publishes each cycle on its own GoGo Photo Contest page, and the address of the current ballot carries the edition year in its path.

The 2026 edition's online voting period ended on July 31, 2025, at 3:00 PM PST, and online entries had to be submitted before that same deadline. Mailed votes followed a slightly earlier cutoff: they had to be received by 3:00 PM PST on July 30, 2025, so the shelter could count them alongside the online total.

Several facts about the ballot are not printed on the page the shelter publishes. The page lists no category roster, no cap on votes per supporter and no eligibility terms; confirm on the live ballot each cycle. The day-level opening date for each cycle is likewise absent, with only the closing deadline printed. Because the shelter reissues the ballot page for every edition, the next cycle's dates and rules will appear on a fresh page when the shelter posts it, and the closing time is the one figure the page states plainly each year.

How a supporter votes in the Superstar Pets contest today

Voting on this ballot is a donation mechanic. The GoGo Photo Contest page asks a minimum of $5 for five votes, which means a supporter backs a pet by donating to SPCA Monterey County and the donation converts into votes applied to that entry. A supporter who wants to spread support across several animals repeats the step for each entry. The ballot does not print a ceiling on how many donations one supporter may make, so check the rules tab on the live ballot for any limit in the current cycle.

There is also a paper route. The shelter accepts votes by mail, and mailed votes must be received by 3:00 PM PST on July 30, 2025, one day ahead of the online close. The mailing address is SPCA Monterey County, 1002 Monterey-Salinas Hwy, Salinas, CA 93908, and mailed votes are counted with the rest once the window shuts.

The literal sequence for an online supporter is short: open the ballot at gogophotocontest.com/spcamc-2025, browse the entries, pick a pet, choose a donation level, and complete the checkout so the votes land on that entry. Sign-in is available through the ballot's own navigation for supporters who want to track their activity, and the entries, prizes and rules tabs sit one click from the vote action throughout the window.

How this ballot sits beside its California neighbours

Monterey County's calendar contest is one of several pet photo ballots in California, and the differences are easy to state. Bark for a Cure! Pet Costume Photo Contest is a costume ballot rather than a calendar production, so its entries are judged on dress-up appeal. Community Concern for Cats Calendar Cat Photo Contest and the Pasadena Humane Calendar Photo Contest are the closest structural cousins, since both also turn winning photos into a published calendar, but each answers to its own organizer, its own platform page and its own rules.

The San Diego House Rabbit Society Bunnyfest Photo Contest narrows the vertical to rabbits, while the Best of Central Valley Business and Best of Marin ballots are readers-choice business contests with no pet element at all. What marks the SPCA Monterey County ballot out within this set is the combination of a shelter address in Salinas, a donation-for-votes mechanic, and a printed calendar as the prize, a shape it shares most closely with the two other calendar contests in the list.

In practice, tactics transfer only partly between these ballots. A costume contest rewards shareable dress-up photos, a rabbit ballot draws a niche audience, and a calendar contest like this one rewards donors who give repeatedly before the closing deadline.

Strengthening support for a Superstar Pets entry

Because votes on this ballot follow donations, the strongest campaigns treat every share as a fundraising ask. Give supporters the direct link to your pet's entry, tell them the minimum of $5 buys five votes, and set a reminder for the final days before the July 31 close, when donation-driven ballots see their heaviest activity. The shelter's rules govern what counts, so read the rules tab before coordinating any group push. For a walkthrough of outreach suited to donation-based ballots, see our votes guide, and remember that no outside help can guarantee a win on a ballot the shelter counts by donation totals.