Meet Costello, pet hedgehog extraordinaire. Costello was the grand prize winner of our 2003 pet lover's star search contest and is featured on one of our favorite pet lover's rubber stamps. The rubber stamp image is shown to the right of Costello's photo.

In the past, we've modeled our animal rubber stamp images on the critters we've known personally. But, now we'd like to expand our catalog to include some of the critters our customers have known personally.. And so... we are looking for more beautiful pets of all species - to star in our 2004 line of pet lovers rubber stamps. Last year's pet lover's star search was a huge success and a lot of fun and we are so grateful to all who entered - the many adorable and photogenic pets and their doting human photographers and friends. We hope this year's pet lovers star search will be just as successful. So, please dig through your photos and find the sharpest, cutest, funniest, most lovable photos of your pet(s) to enter in this year's contest.

Entering your pet photo:

This is April, a first prize winner in the 2003 Pet Lover's Star Search!
Like Costello's, April's photo was well suited to be a rubber stamp because it showcased her beautiful face and markings very clearly. As you can see, our artist rendered her just beautifully and now she is the star of her own rubber stamp!

To enter, you must have the permission of the pet owner AND own the copyright to the photo you submit to our contest. All photos entered become the property of RubberHedgehog.Com and may be used in future advertising campaigns, in our catalogs, and on our web site. Entries can be submitted electronically or by mail. Please do not send your only original print - we cannot return photos to you.

Entries must be post marked by September 1st, in order to be considered for this round. However, photo entries will be posted to the web site as soon as we start getting them in the mail. Official judging will take place on September 20th. Winners will be notified by email and will receive prize packages in the mail within 8-10 weeks of the end of the contest.

The most successful photo entries will be well composed (its best if we can see most or all of your pet's face and body), in focus, and large enough to show good detail of your pet's lovable features - including any distinctive body markings. As a general rule, the head of your pet should be at least 1" across in the photo (prints). Otherwise, please be creative in your poses and let us see your pet(s) in action. We encourage entries with up to three pets in one photo; but please make sure that all subjects are in very close proximity to each other as most background objects will not be included in the final stamp product. You may also include simple props (toys) in your photo. Try to avoid props that might "steal" the spotlight from your pets. Avoid props that obscure your pet's face and or body.

This is Danny, another first prize winner in the 2003 Pet Lover's Star Search!

Danny's photo was well suited to be a rubber stamp because it was well lit, sharply focused, and, of course, because Danny is just so darned cute!

A star is born:

Every pet is beautiful in it's own way - so it stands to reason that choosing among our entries is going to be a very tough job. For this reason, we would appreciate your help. Please be sure to stop back in the next few weeks and let us know who you would choose. We will be posting entries to the web site as they come in and we will be adding a poll toward the end of the contest so we can get your input. Of course, our staff will make the final choices.

Prizes:

We anticipate awarding prizes to one grand prize winner and to three first place winners. However, we reserve the right to award additional first place prize packages if the number and quality of entries warrant it. Our artist will create realistic ink drawings of the winning pets - like the ones you see above. These drawings will be used to create a new line of pet rubber stamps for our Winter 2004/2005 catalog.

One Grand prize winner:

Our grand prize winner will receive $35 in RubberHedgehog.Com store credit, a mounted rubber stamp featuring our artist's depiction of his or her winning pet, a personalized award certificate bearing a copy of the artwork for their stamp, and a "my pet's a star at RubberHedgehog.Com" rubber stamp.

Three First place winners:

Our first place winners will receive a mounted rubber stamp featuring our artist's depiction of his or her winning pet, a personalized award certificate bearing a copy of the artwork for their stamp, and a "my pet's a star at RubberHedgehog.Com" rubber stamp.

This is Hayley, another first prize winner in the 2003 Pet Lover's Star Search

Hayley's photo was well suited to be a rubber stamp because it was focused, well-lit, and provided a close-up of his charming face which exuded style and attitude. We just fell in love.

Disclaimers:

We anticipate this event proceeding as outlined above. However, we reserve the right to call off this event with no notice, should unforseen circumstances arise which we believe would hamper its successful completion. In this event, we will do our best to notify all entrants.

Photos sent to us become our property. We reserve the right to determine the entire content of the rubber stamps that are made of the winning animals and to produce as many or as few rubber stamps as we choose based off of any single chosen entry.

By sending your photo and entry information, you are agreeing to all the terms of this contest as outlined above.

We reserve the right to disqualify anyone sending photos that we believe depicts anything which might endanger the life, health, or well-being of any animal or human. Disqualified entries will not be posted to the web site. We also reserve the right to refuse to accept any electronic entry because of compatibility issues or if we suspect accepting an entry could harm our system software or hardware.

Employees of RubberHedgehog.Com and their families are ineligible for this event.

We are not responsible for miscommunication caused by typos or other errors that may be printed on this page. Any and all rules are subject to change.

To enter:

Send your photo and the following information to us at: service@rubberhedgehog.com or at:

Pet Lovers Star Search
RubberHedgehog.Com
ATTN: Sidelia Reyna
3558 Kehr Rd.
Oxford, Ohio 45056

Be sure to include the following:

1. Your pet photo (make sure it can't be bent or otherwise damaged in shipping); if sending photos by email, please send a .jpg no larger than 100k.
2. Your name and full mailing address (I will not post this information to the web site or share it with ANYONE without your permission). This is where we send your prize package, if you win.
   
3. The name of the pet's owner and a signed statement from them saying, "I, _________have read the contest rules and agree to allow RubberHedgehog Rubber Stamps to use my pet, _______'s name and image in their advertising, in their catalog, and on their web site." Entries without this statement will not be considered.
4. The name of the photographer or photo copyright holder and a signed statement from them saying, "I, _________ have read the contest rules and agree to allow RubberHedgehog Rubber Stamps to use my photograph of _________ in their advertising, in their catalog, and on their web site." Entries without this statement will not be considered.
5. The name(s) and age(s) of the pet(s) depicted in your photo. This information will be included on the web site. We will accept up to 4 entries per photographer; and one photo per pet will be eligible to win. If you do not know the age of your pet for certain, please give your best guess.
6. A one 3-4 sentence essay that tells us something unique about your pet or about his/her history. This essay will be used as a "tie-breaker" and may be posted to the web site, in the event that your entry is chosen. Please do not include information about where you live in your essay.

QUESTIONS? Email us at: service@rubberhedgehog.com

See this year's early entries here.

If you'd like to see last year's pet lovers star search entrants, check them out here.

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