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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.

Each January, the Humane Education Network holds its annual A Voice for Animals contest for high school students.

Congratulations to our 2024 contest winners!

H.E.N. does not condone any form of animal suffering. We strive to discover solutions to mitigate animal suffering. Small steps are often necessary to achieve the ideal goal of ending pain and distress altogether.

First Prize (Video by 16-18 year old)

Allison Cheng Young Birders for Our Habitats

Second Prize (Video by 16-18 year old)

Isabella Velasquez The Call of the Pack - Endangered Species Project

Third Prize (Video by 16-18 year old)

Erin Rhoden Right Whale Festival

First Prize (Essay/Photographs by 16-18 year old)

VJae Brown Go Green KISD

Second Prize (Essay/Photographs by 16-18 year old)

Harkanwal Sidhu Animal Mental Health Awareness

Active Involvement Prize (Essay/Photographs by 16-18 year old)

Daniel Athey Rescue 911 For Our Shelter Animals

First Prize (Essay by 16-18 year old)

Krrisha Patel Preservation Of Endangered Sea Turtles

Second Prize (Essay by 16-18 year old)

Yasmine Cheng Mitigating the Toll of Roadkill on Taiwan’s Leopard Cat Population

Third Prize (Essay by 16-18 year old)

Brooklyn Hoegy Mistreated and Misjudged: Great White Sharks

First Prize (Essay by 14-15 year old)

Zai Lee Ending Rhino Poaching for Generations to Come

Second Prize (Essay by 14-15 year old)

Ka Yee Brianna Xiao “The Golden Gem’s Gilded Glory”

Third Prize (Essay by 14-15 year old)

Sanvi Gupta Tangled Truths: Unveiling the Plight of Oceanic Species

First Prize (ESL, 16-18 year old)

Sabrina Chen Endangered Beauty

Second Prize (ESL, 16-18 year old)

Varenya Kunapuli Corruption, Torture, and Crime: What They Don't Tell You about Horse Racing

Third Prize (ESL, 16-18 year old)

Vicky Gutierrez-Ramirez Pollinator Decline at Oakland High School and its Solution

Honorable Mention

Parker Bowman CAFOs Cause Animal Suffering

Honorable Mention

Zora Chou Why Some Exotic Animals Should Not Be Pets

Honorable Mention

Hassan Raza The Plight of the Pangolin: Raising Awareness and Protecting the Most Trafficked Mammal

Honorable Mention

Kaylynn Walmsley Battling For The Little Brown Bat

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.)

Contest FAQ


No. This is an contest with a set of rules and cash prizes. We advertise the contest on scholarship web sites to reach the largest number of eligible high school students.

The dates are usually announced on our web site mid-December after the judges have finalized the rules. The contest usually opens for entries in January and closes in March with results being announced in May.

The rules and requirements for each contest may vary from year to year. The rules for the 2025 contest will appear on this page when the contest dates are announced in December.

Entries are accepted only between the contest opening and closing dates. The online form for submitting entries does not appear on this page until the contest opens.

Your entry must be submitted online using a form which appears on this page only while the contest is open for entries. Entries sent to us in any other way (e.g. e-mail or via the postal service) will simply be discarded.

Questions about the A Voice for Animals contest may be sent to contest@hennet.org. E-mail to any other address will not necessarily receive a response.


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, August 16th 2024.

Good luck!