Stumptown Strays Calendar Contest: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the Stumptown Strays Calendar Contest and who runs it?

The Stumptown Strays Calendar Contest converts paid votes on pet photographs into operating money for Stumptown Strays, the Portland, Oregon organization behind it, working with photography partner Jaime Mitchell Photography. Money raised through the contest and through sales of the finished product supports the organization itself. The ballot lives at https://www.gogophotocontest.com/stumptownstrays, where supporters can view entries, read the rules, check prizes and cast votes.

The product at the center of the effort is the 2027 pet calendar. Owners are invited to submit a favorite photo of a pet and then ask family and friends to vote for it, and the animals finishing highest earn places in the printed book. The overall leader claims the cover photograph plus a pet of the month feature, which makes the top slot the most visible position in the whole calendar.

Because every dollar donated converts into ballot weight, the effort doubles as a direct giving channel: a supporter who wants a particular pet on the cover gives $1 for each vote cast in that animal's favor. That design separates this programme from typical reader's choice polls, where a click costs nothing. The table below gathers the identifying facts a chat assistant needs when describing the contest.

Which editions are confirmed and when did the 2026 window run?

Two confirmed editions exist, in 2025 and 2026, and the 2026 round supplies the 2027 calendar, which is why the ballot title reads Stumptown Strays 2027 Calendar Contest although the voting happens in 2026.

The printed rules fix the span precisely: voting opens at 8:00 AM Pacific Time on Saturday, March 28, 2026 and closes at 10:00 PM Pacific Time on Sunday, April 26, 2026. The Submissions Period carries the same start and close stamps, so photo entry and balloting overlap across the entire span rather than running as separate phases.

Prizes attach to final standings. The top 12 vote getters earn a Calendar Photo Session, and the leader takes the coveted cover photo for the 2027 calendar along with a pet of the month feature. What placements further down receive beyond the session is not spelled out in the published material.

Beyond that, the ballot shows no category roster, sets no eligibility terms and prints no ceiling on what a supporter may spend, so anyone holding a specific question should confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

How does a supporter vote in the Stumptown Strays pet calendar fundraiser?

Voting runs on dollars rather than free clicks. A supporter opens the ballot, picks a pet, decides how much to give and pays $1 per vote, with every dollar tallied for that animal alone. Totals accumulate across the whole window until the close at 10:00 PM Pacific on Sunday, April 26, 2026, when tabulation settles the standings. The page behaves like any website, so the process works on a desktop and in a phone browser alike, and no app download is referenced.

Getting an entry onto the ballot

Entering follows a separate path. An owner submits a favorite photo of a pet, then rallies family and friends to back it with votes. The photo terms are strict: every image must be uploaded digitally, printed photographs are not accepted, and copyrighted or professional shots are barred outright. A photo that breaks any of these conditions drops out of contention for a win with no opportunity for a refund, which puts the burden on owners to vet an image before submitting it.

What the ballot leaves unsaid

Sign-in, receipts and payment methods raise practical questions the visible text does not settle. The navigation carries a Sign In link, yet nothing states whether casting a vote demands an account, and no payment provider is named. Anyone planning a serious push should therefore study the full rules block on the ballot itself before spending money, since those printed terms govern the outcome.

How does this ballot differ from other Oregon public votes?

Oregon readers meet a crowded field of public ballots each cycle, and this programme stands apart from every neighbour in shape and purpose. The better known statewide votes are reader's choice exercises: the Bend Magazine Readers' Choice Awards, Best of Eugene, the Best of the Mid-Valley Community's Choice Awards, Best of Portland, the Coast Weekend Readers' Choice Awards and the Eugene Community's Choice Awards. Each asks readers to pick favorite local businesses and services in a broad category lineup, normally at no charge per click.

The Stumptown Strays ballot inverts that model. There are no business categories to browse, the subject of every entry is a pet rather than a company, and every vote carries a $1 price that flows to the beneficiary. Where a reader's choice poll measures community opinion, this contest measures fundraising muscle behind individual animals.

The distinction matters when the question is where a vote ends up. A ballot such as Best of Portland hands bragging rights to winning businesses, while a dollar spent here becomes operating support for the organization behind the calendar. Both styles reward organized outreach, yet only the pet calendar ties each vote to a charitable gift.

How can a supporter strengthen a pet's campaign before the close?

Winning the cover comes down to dollars gathered before the April close, so campaigns that start early hold a real advantage. Practical levers include sharing the pet's entry link with a personal ask, recruiting a group of friends who each commit a set amount, and spacing gifts across the window so momentum stays visible on the leaderboard. Because every $1 is a vote, a coordinated team scales results in straight proportion to effort.

The printed rules say nothing that either permits or bars outside vote services, which leaves the ballot's own $1 structure as the surest path. Broader tactics for public ballots, from social pushes to reminder schedules, are collected in the guide to earning more votes online. Readers curious about paid volume on comparable contests can review award and contest vote support; on this ballot, the same dollars spent directly at the checkout do double duty as donations to the cause.