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A Voice for Animals Contest

The contest is supported by a partnership between the Animal Welfare Institute and the Humane Education Network with additional support from the Palo Alto Humane Society.

The 34th Annual Contest is now Open!

Please read the Official Rules and Advice for Participants before preparing your submission! Submit your entry online using the form below.

Prizes up to a total of $5900* will be awarded to high school students whose entries best promote the humane treatment of animals, including:
$500
First Prize (Video by 16-18 year old)
$300
Second Prize (Video by 16-18 year old)
$200
Third Prize (Video by 16-18 year old)
$250
Active Involvement Prize (Video by 16-18 year old)
$350
First Prize (Essay/Photographs by 16-18 year old)
$200
Second Prize (Essay/Photographs by 16-18 year old)
$200
Third Prize (Essay/Photographs by 16-18 year old)
$350
Active Involvement Prize (Essay/Photographs by 16-18 year old)
$400
First Prize (Essay by 16-18 year old)
$300
Second Prize (Essay by 16-18 year old)
$200
Third Prize (Essay by 16-18 year old)
$250
Active Involvement Prize (16-18 essay only)
$400
First Prize (Essay by 14-15 year old)
$300
Second Prize (Essay by 14-15 year old)
$200
Third Prize (Essay by 14-15 year old)
$300
First Prize (ESL, 16-18 year old)
$300
Second Prize (ESL, 16-18 year old)
$200
Third Prize (ESL, 16-18 year old)
$300
First Prize (ESL, 14-15 year old)
$300
Second Prize (ESL, 14-15 year old)
$200
Third Prize (ESL, 14-15 year old)

*We reserve the right to adjust the number of prizes and the amounts of the prizes based on the entries received.

Official Rules

The A Voice for Animals contest is now open. The competition has sections for 14-15 year old students and sections for 16-18 year old students.

The contest is also open to ESL (English as a Second Language) students.

We accept submissions from countries worldwide.

Eligibility

Participants must currently be enrolled in middle or high school, or be home-schooled, and less than 19 years of age on February 1, 2024 (the date the contest opened for entries). No exceptions!

The contest is open to all otherwise eligible students worldwide regardless of nationality, citizenship, or country of residence.

You are strongly advised to read all the rules and advice for participants!

 

Fourteen and Fifteen Year Old Essay Submissions

Entrants in the 14-15 year old section are invited to either write an essay that addresses one of the following: the mistreatment of one animal species, or one cause of animal suffering, and present ideas to raise awareness of this species and what can be done to protect it. Essays should fall into one of the following categories: Companion Animals, Farm Animals, Wildlife on Land, Wildlife in the Oceans, My Local Area, or Other. You will need to choose one of these when you submit your entry.

Your submission must:

  • be the original work of the author or authors;
  • show clearly which animal issue you chose to address and why;
  • include accurate citations of any quotes or references used to support your essay.

Submission format

All submissions must be made using the form which will appear below only while the contest is open for entries. Please note: essays submitted any other way (e.g. via e-mail or the postal service) will not be accepted.

Essay files will be uploaded directly to our website via the entry form. 

  1. Your essay must be no less than 1400 words and no more than 1500 words excluding citations, page headers and footers. Essays with a word count outside this range will be automatically disqualified.
  2. Your essay must be written in English.
  3. You must include a bibliography of your sources. You may use either APA or MLA style. Please choose whichever you are most comfortable with. For help with these styles, visit Purdue's online writing lab, The Owl.
  4. You must include your name and essay title at the top of each page. Do not include any contact information (e.g. e-mail address or telephone number) in your essay.
  5. All pages of an essay must be numbered.
  6. All pages of an essay must be double-spaced.
  7. You must use a legible font style and size such as 12-point Times New Roman
  8. We will only accept essays in PDF format. If you need help creating a PDF file, see below.
  9. The size of your file must be less than 2Mb.

Sixteen through Eighteen Year Old Essay Submissions

Entrants in the 16-18 year old essay section are invited to write an essay that addresses either the mistreatment of one animal species or one cause of animal suffering; or the preservation of one endangered species, occurring anywhere in the world, and potential solutions to alleviate animal suffering. Essays should fall into one of the following categories: Companion Animals, Farm Animals, Wildlife on Land, Wildlife in the Oceans, My Local Area, or Other. You will need to choose one of these when you submit your entry.

Your submission must:

  • be the original work of the author or authors;
  • show clearly which animal issue you chose to address and why;
  • include accurate citations of any quotes or references used to support your essay.

Submission format

All submissions must be made using the form, which will appear below only while the contest is open for entries. Please note: essays submitted any other way (e.g. via e-mail or the postal service) will not be accepted.

Essay files will be uploaded directly to our website via the entry form. 

  1. Your essay must be no less than 1400 words and no more than 1500 words excluding citations, page headers and footers (if used). Essays with a word count outside this range will be automatically disqualified.
  2. Your essay must be written in English.
  3. You must include a bibliography of your sources. You may use either APA or MLA style. Please choose whichever you are most comfortable with. For help with these styles, visit Purdue's online writing lab, The Owl.
  4. You must include your name and essay title at the top of each page. Do not include any contact information (e.g. e-mail address or telephone number) in your essay.
  5. All pages of an essay must be numbered.
  6. All pages of an essay must be double-spaced.
  7. You must use a legible font style and size such as 12-point Times New Roman
  8. We will only accept essays in PDF format. If you need help creating a PDF file, see below.
  9. The size of your file must be less than 2Mb.

Sixteen through Eighteen Year Old Video

Entrants in the 16-18 year Video section must become involved in a project (new or pre-existing) that addresses either the mistreatment of one animal species or one cause of animal suffering; or the preservation of one endangered species, occurring anywhere in the world. Videos should fall into one of the following categories: Companion Animals, Farm Animals, Wildlife on Land, Wildlife in the Oceans, My Local Area, or Other. You will need to choose one of these when you submit your entry.

Projects should be worked on for at least two months and the project should have a direct impact on animals by means of either direct or indirect intervention. Your submission will document your project and your contribution to that project and, where possible, show how your project/involvement could alleviate animal suffering.

Your project could possibly be one of the following:

  • Form an organization to raise awareness about an animal issue and how to reduce suffering
  • Create a school group to raise awareness about an animal issue and how to reduce suffering
  • Participate actively in an organization that raises awareness about an animal issue and how to reduce suffering
  • Create or demonstrate a plausible alternative to a practice which causes animal suffering
  • Devise an activity of your own that will raise awareness about, or mitigate, animal suffering

If you choose to start a group, you will need to demonstrate how many people were in the group and that this group was active and made significant contributions in your chosen area. In all categories we will ask you to provide contact information for someone who will vouch for the originality and duration of your project.

If you wish to submit a joint project, a group of up to four students can contribute to the project. Only one member of the group should submit the entry form and the names of other group members must be included just one time on the project itself.

Your submission must:

  • be the original work of the creator or creators;
  • show clearly which animal issue you chose to address and why;
  • show what you have done to help remedy this issue;
  • include accurate citations of any quotes or references used in your presentation

Submission format

All submissions must be made using the form which will appear below only while the contest is open for entries. Essays or videos submitted any other way (e.g. via e-mail or the postal service) will not be accepted.

Video entries will require that you provide a URL to your submission because it will be on another website. The entry form will explain how to obtain, copy, and paste the required URL into the entry form.

The requirements for each category of submission are specified below.

Video

  1. Your video must be between 2 - 4 minutes long.
  2. We will accept video submissions uploaded only to YouTube (www.youtube.com) or Vimeo (www.vimeo.com).
  3. Give your video a meaningful title.
  4. Add a brief synopsis of the video as the description of the video.
  5. You must include your name in the video, but do not include any contact information (e.g. e-mail address or telephone number) in either the video or its description.

Please note:

You must have explicit permission to use any footage, animation, music or photography you use. 

Sixteen through Eighteen Year Old Essay with Photos Submissions

Entrants in the 16-18 year old Essay with Photos section must become involved in a project (new or pre-existing) that addresses either the mistreatment of one animal species or one cause of animal suffering; or the preservation of one endangered species, occurring anywhere in the world. Essays should fall into one of the following categories: Companion Animals, Farm Animals, Wildlife on Land, Wildlife in the Oceans, My Local Area, or Other. You will need to choose one of these when you submit your entry.

Projects should be worked on for at least two months and the project should have a direct impact on animals by means of either direct or indirect intervention. Your submission will document your project and your contribution to that project and, where possible, show how your project/involvement could alleviate animal suffering.

Your project could possibly be one of the following:

  • Form an organization to raise awareness about an animal issue and how to reduce suffering
  • Create a school group to raise awareness about an animal issue and how to reduce suffering
  • Participate actively in an organization that raises awareness about an animal issue and how to reduce suffering
  • Create or demonstrate a plausible alternative to a practice which causes animal suffering
  • Devise an activity of your own that will raise awareness about, or mitigate, animal suffering

If you choose to start a group, you will need to demonstrate how many people were in the group and that this group was active and made significant contributions in your chosen area. In all categories we will ask you to provide contact information for someone who will vouch for the originality and duration of your project.

If you wish to submit a joint project, a group of up to four students can contribute to the project. Only one member of the group should submit the entry form and the names of other group members must be included just one time on the project itself.

Your submission must:

  • be the original work of the author or authors;
  • show clearly which animal issue you chose to address and why;
  • show what you have done to help remedy this issue;
  • include accurate citations of any quotes or references, and properly credited photos

Submission format

All submissions must be made using the form which will appear below only while the contest is open for entries. Essays submitted any other way (e.g. via e-mail or the postal service) will not be accepted.

Essay files will be uploaded directly to our website via the entry form. 

Essay with Photographs

  1. Your essay must be no less than 900 and no more than 1000 words excluding citations, page headers and footers (if used). Essays with a word count outside this range will be automatically disqualified.
  2. Your essay must be written in English.
  3. You must include a bibliography of your sources. You may use either APA or MLA style. Please choose whichever you are most comfortable with. For help with these styles, visit Purdue's online writing lab, The Owl.
  4. You must include your name and essay title at the top of each page. Do not include any contact information (e.g. e-mail address or telephone number) in your essay.
  5. All pages of an essay must be numbered.
  6. All pages of an essay must be double-spaced.
  7. You must use a legible font style and size such as 12-point Times New Roman
  8. We will only accept essays in PDF format. If you need help creating a PDF file, see below.
  9. The size of your file must be less than 2Mb.

Deadlines

Entry deadline: Friday, May 31st 2024 (11:59pm PDT)
Results announced: Friday, July 26th 2024

Advice for Participants

The judges offer the following advice based on entries from earlier contests:

  • Read the rules! Every year we disqualify a number of entries because they did not follow the rules.
  • If your entry is an essay the judges will look for:
    • Clear, in-depth examination of the chosen topic
    • Original and/or practicable solutions to the issue
    • Use of a variety of credible sources to support your essay (please do not use Wikipedia)
    • A well-organized structure including opening and closing paragraphs
    • Careful attention to grammar and spelling
  • If your entry is an essay with photos the judges will look for:
    • Clear, in-depth examination of the chosen topic 
    • Original and/or practicable solutions to the issue
    • Use of a variety of credible sources to support your essay (please do not use Wikipedia)
    • A well-organized structure including opening and closing paragraphs
    • Careful attention to grammar and spelling
    • Photos that enhance the essay
  • If your entry is a video the judges will look for:
    • Clear, and in-depth examination of the chosen topic
    • Original and/or practicable solutions to the issue
    • Good quality video with clear audio that keeps the viewers' attention 
    • An inspiring call to action encouraging others to get involved
  • Please utilize either the MLA or APA styles to format and cite your sources For help with acceptable formatting and styles, check out  https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/resources.html
  • The judges will take an especially harsh view of plagiarism. Don't do it! Cite all your sources. We do check.
  • ESSENTIAL: Learn from previous winners!  Visit our home page and the submissions of previous winners. Look at their entries to see how they stand out.
  • Make sure the file or URL you submit is your actual entry! Each year we receive files which are clearly not the author's essay file. Due to the number of essays submitted we are unlikely to have time to contact you about your mistake.

How to create a PDF file

We only accept essays as PDF (Portable Document Format) files which are easy to create from word processing applications:

  1. On Windows:
    • When using Microsoft Word simply select File→Save as... and select "PDF (*.pdf)" from the document type drop-down menu below the filename box. Then click the Save button.
    • Otherwise print the document and select the Microsoft print to PDF (virtual) printer.
  2. On a Macintosh select the "Save as PDF" destination when printing your document.
  3. On Linux or if you don't have a word processing application on Windows or Mac that can produce PDFs, LibreOffice is a free package which includes many of the same features as Microsoft Office and is available on Windows, Mac and Linux. LibreOffice Writer is the application in the package which is similar to Microsoft Word.

Entry Form

First name:
Last name: Age:
Address:
 
City:
State: Zip/Postal Code:
Country:
E-mail:
Phone:
School:
Year in school:
Reference: You must provide contact information for a professional person outside your family (e.g. teacher, church official, veterinarian, animal control officer) who can vouch for your participation in, and contribution to, the project in the event that your entry is awarded a prize.
First name: Last name:
Phone: E-mail:
Relationship to the project:
Project title:
Entry category:
Submission type:
 
How did you hear about the contest?
 
Are you an ESL (English as a Second Language) student? Yes No
I have read the official rules and confirm that my entry obeys them.
I certify that this entry is my own original, unpublished work.
I understand that the Humane Education Network reserves the right to post winning entries on this web site.
I have read the Humane Education Network privacy policy.
 

Previous winners

Select a winning essay and click the Read Essay button. The essay will open as a PDF file in another window.
(Essays shown in gray are not currently available online.)

Questions?

If you have any questions at all about our high school essay contest, please send e-mail to contest@hennet.org.

Thank you for entering our contest, . Your entry ID is #.

You can also look up your entry here.

If you are one of the prize winners, we will notify you directly. Otherwise, a list of winners will be posted on this web site no later than Friday, July 26th 2024.

Good luck!