The Animal Friends Comedy Pet Photo Awards came into being when Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam (who had previously founded the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards) thought—why not see if they could create a positive photo competition that anyone with a pet could enter, that would result in some feel-good happy vibes and, most importantly, contribute to getting people engaged with animal welfare and raising some much-needed money for pet charities. The competition is all about funny images and videos of pets and celebrating them. This year, they have teamed up with Animal Friends Pet Insurance, which allows them to donate part of the competition funds to a charity that the Animal Friends Comedy Pet Photo Awards have chosen, called Animal Support Angels. They are a small grassroots charity that, according to Michelle Wood, team member of Comedy Pet, do amazing work.

Michelle also shared that for National Pet Day, (which should be every day, in everyone’s opinion!) they wanted to create something that was relevant to the UK at this weird time and to connect it to the lighter side of the lockdown restrictions lifting, which is consuming a lot of people’s thoughts at the moment. “Many of the images we get are examples of anthropomorphism, where the pets are seemingly doing and behaving just like us, which is hilarious. So we thought it would be fun to present some of the quirkier images with some thoughts and anxieties that are all running through our minds as we get some of our freedoms back. Sort of anthropomorphism in reverse!”

As it is the second consecutive year of holding these awards, lots of people have been asking Comedy Pet Photo Awards why they do the competition and what they are trying to achieve. So they came up with a really brilliant explanation after having tea and biscuits that “we want to promote positive awareness of animal welfare issues and celebrate the incredible and valuable contribution that pets can and do have on our lives.” Michelle also shared that “we hope to make people smile, think about their pets—their importance to our lives, to our physical and mental health, companionship, and to raise some awareness around pet charities and what we can do to help. We also want to try and engage with people on improving animal welfare and being kinder to the animals that we share this amazing planet with.”