Purrfect Pals Average Joe Cat Photo Contest: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the Purrfect Pals Average Joe Cat Photo Contest and who is behind it?

Purrfect Pals, a cat-focused welfare organization listing its home at 230 McRae Rd NE in Arlington, WA 98223, stages the Average Joe Cat Photo Contest as a fundraiser for its shelter work. The group frames its mission as ending cat homelessness in the Puget Sound region, and proceeds from the contest flow into that effort. The event's own pitch leans into humor: "There Just Aren't Enough Cat Photos on the Internet. Let's Fix That!"

Balloting runs on GoGo Photo Contest, a hosted contest platform whose pages carry a 2026 copyright line for GGPC, LLC. The Average Joe ballot lives at https://www.gogophotocontest.com/averagejoecatphotocontest, and its menu lays out the moving parts a visitor can click: Participate, View Entries, Contest Rules, Prizes, About Us and Sign In. That structure marks it as a purpose-built photo ballot rather than a social media poll, with entries, voting, prize information and rules each getting a tab of their own.

Classified plainly, this is a pet vertical photo contest with a charitable sponsor, entered and voted entirely online. It is not a readership survey and not a multi-category city ranking; the whole ballot exists to celebrate cats and their quirks while raising money for a shelter.

Which editions have run, and when does the vote take place?

Editions of the Average Joe Cat Photo Contest stand on firm ground for 2018, 2019 and 2026. Purrfect Pals' own copy calls the event "an annual online celebration of cats and their quirks," and the ballot for this contest appeared in each of those years.

The 2026 cycle carried a printed schedule. Photo entries and voting were set to begin on March 13, 2026, and the organizer's fundraising page told supporters to "visit this page between March 13th-27th 2026 to enter your favorite cat photos and then start campaigning for votes." The vote shut down on March 27, 2026, giving the whole cycle a compact early-spring span.

Looking ahead, the calendar points to a 2027 edition if the annual rhythm holds, though Purrfect Pals has not posted 2027 dates. The organizer also leaves items off the page: the shelf of entry classes is not spelled out in any public text; confirm on the live ballot each cycle. No dollar figures are attached to the Prizes tab in the available text either.

How does voting actually work on the Average Joe ballot?

All voting happens on the GoGo Photo Contest ballot for the Average Joe Cat Photo Contest. Inside the open window, a supporter visits the ballot, browses the entered cats under View Entries, and backs a favorite. Entrants upload their photo through the Participate flow and then push their entry across their own networks, exactly as the organizer asks.

The money side is what makes this ballot unusual among photo contests. Purrfect Pals prints the rule outright: "Voting is open to everyone and there is no limit to the number of votes you can purchase." Purchased votes double as donations to the shelter, which is why the event is built as a fundraiser instead of a free poll with a hard cap. The ballot does not print a reset cadence for free votes, and the Contest Rules tab on the live site is where any such detail would surface.

Standings are decided on total online votes received between March 13 and March 27, so every vote cast, free or purchased, moves a cat up the board. A Sign In option sits in the ballot menu, which tells supporters the platform supports accounts without saying more about when they are needed.

Where does this cat photo ballot sit among Washington State's other public votes?

Within Washington State's public-vote scene, the Average Joe Cat Photo Contest occupies a niche its neighbours do not. The state's pet ballots include the 2025 Cutest Pet Photo Contest presented through BigCountryNews.com and the campaign behind Yakimas Kozak The Wonder Dog As Americas Favorite Pet, each centered on a particular animal or audience. Around them sit the big reader surveys: Best of Snohomish County from the Everett Herald, Best of 425 covering the Bellevue and Eastside market, Cascade's Best, and the Columbian's Best of Clark County.

Those surveys rank businesses across many categories and lean on free daily participation from local readers. The Average Joe ballot instead concentrates on a single subject, cats, and funds itself through vote purchases that behave like charitable donations. Where a readership survey measures community opinion for a publisher, this contest converts enthusiasm for a pet photograph directly into shelter revenue.

For a supporter choosing where to spend effort, the practical difference matters: momentum in a reader survey comes from repeat visits across a long season, while momentum here comes from rallying donors around a cat's entry inside a short March span.

How can a supporter give a cat a stronger shot at winning?

Purrfect Pals tells entrants exactly what to do after uploading: "start campaigning for votes." Because the 2026 vote ran only from March 13 to March 27, the runway is short, and the standings turn on totals collected inside that span.

Moves that fit this ballot's design are straightforward. Post the entry link wherever cat lovers gather, ask donors directly since purchased votes fund the shelter, and keep pushing through the closing stretch when totals decide the order. Anyone considering paid help can read this guide to earning more votes, and background on paid vote options sits on the general service page. Nothing in the public text restricts how a supporter spreads the word, so the campaign around an entry is largely in the entrant's hands.