Show Us Your Kitties Calendar Contest: How Voting Works & How to Win

How do donations turn into votes in Show Us Your Kitties?

The defining rule of the Show Us Your Kitties Calendar Contest is printed in plain language: there is a $5 donation minimum, for which you will receive 5 votes. Proceeds benefit SOCKS cats and kittens looking for their furever homes. That sentence makes the contest a fundraiser first and a photo ballot second, and it tells a supporter exactly how votes are earned: by giving, not by clicking.

The wording matters for how a reader should think about the contest. A vote here is not a free click on a poll; it is a receipt for a gift to a cat rescue, and the minimum is stated up front so no supporter is surprised. The page does not say whether larger gifts earn proportionally more votes, so a donor should read the Rules page for how amounts above the minimum are handled before giving.

Save Our Cats and Kittens, shortened to SOCKS, is based in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and hosts the contest on gogophotocontest.com. The page opens with a playful line, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest feline of them all?", and its menu offers Participate, View Entries, Calendar Order, Rules, Winner and Calendar Pick-up Instructions, About Us and Sign In. Those links show a full contest workflow from entry to a calendar in hand.

What do the winning cats receive?

The page lists a prize ladder. In 1st place (1 winner), a cat earns the coveted "Cover Photo." In 2nd place (12 winners), cats earn a "Pet of the Month" placement. The text also explains that those vote-getters will be a "cat of the month" in ranked order, so January goes to the highest placed of that group, February to the next, and so on down the calendar.

Prize language like this shapes how people campaign. A Cover Photo is a single slot, so the contest between top contenders is tight, while the Pet of the Month placements spread rewards across a larger group of cats, which keeps more owners engaged for the whole calendar year. Because the months are assigned in ranked order, even a cat that misses the cover can still earn a favorite month, and an owner can choose to ask friends to give on the strength of that placement.

That ranked arrangement gives every placement a month-sized stake. A supporter backing a cat is therefore choosing among a Cover Photo and the calendar pages that follow it. How many cats the contest accepts in total, and what happens in a tie, are not printed; the organizer has not published those details in the available text, so confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

Which editions are confirmed and what is the page status?

The 2025 and 2026 cycles each have a confirmed ballot. The page carries a 2027 heading above the line Show Us Your Kitties! Photo Contest, followed by the notice "Contest has ended" and the label Central Time. Because the heading year is later than the confirmed run, it works as a label for the page, not as evidence of an edition that has taken place.

A visitor today is therefore looking at a finished cycle. The page gives no opening or closing date for any year, and the donation rule is the only mechanic it prints. Readers who want to follow the program can use the same address for the next cycle, since the organizer keeps its contest at a stable page under its name.

How does it compare with other Florida ballots?

Other Florida entries on this site cover regional readers' programs, while the Pin Up Paws pet calendar ballot is the closest pet-themed neighbor listed here.

Regional polls rank restaurants, salons and shops, and a reader can usually vote without paying. SOCKS asks for a donation, so the supporter's choice has parts to weigh: whether to give and which cat to back. The sibling pet ballot is the closest comparison, since both are calendar contests, though each has its own organizer, rules and prize list, and nothing here assumes they match.

Show Us Your Kitties stands apart from the regional polls because votes are tied to donations, because the subject is a cat portrait and because the reward is a calendar page. Readers comparing pet calendar ballots can open the BEST BUDS Pin Up Paws Calendar Contest, and those who want business polls can start with Best of Tallahassee or Best of the Bay.

How can supporters rally behind a cat?

Because votes come from donations, a cat's owner is really inviting friends to support a rescue. The votes guide covers outreach for public ballots, and the buy votes page describes paid support in general terms.

SOCKS prints its own donation rule, and the Rules link decides anything beyond it. Anyone who wonders about help from outside the owner's circle should read that link and the legal position page first, because the organizer's wording decides which votes stand.

A donation contest rewards a clear story. Owners can write a short caption about their cat, explain that gifts help SOCKS cats and kittens find homes, and share the contest address with the people most likely to give: relatives, coworkers, neighbors in Fort Walton Beach and fellow cat owners. A reminder near the end, before the page changes to its ended notice, gives hesitant friends a nudge, and a thank-you afterward, with a note on how the cat placed, closes the loop. Photographs matter too, since the page invites visitors to browse entries and a sharp portrait stands out in a gallery of cats.