The Comedy Pet Awards contest was invented by the organizers of the world-famous Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards, Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam. "Following on from the unbelievable success and amazing response that we had from setting up the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards a few years ago, Tom and I had another light bulb moment and it was this: 'Why don't we do another funny photo competition but this time for pets. Wowza, now there’s an idea,'" says Paul Joynson-Hicks, a famous wildlife photographer.

"Through the Comedy Pets, 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," the founders claim. "Thanks to the support of our brilliant competition partner, Animal Friends, this year we are donating £10,000 each to three separate charities to help improve the life of pets and promote their work."

As you probably know, the whole history of mankind is actually the history of kitties' and doggos' rivalry. In 2021, a photo of a dog won, and this year cats strike back. The overall winner of the 2022 competition is a photo called "Boom Boom," captured by Kenichi Morinaga from Fukuoka, Japan.

Kenichi specializes in wedding photography, as well as in cat pictures, but the winning photo was shot quite by accident. "Cats just collided on the fence by accident," the winner tells. "It turned out a very funny moment, as it happens in cartoons."

"Photos taken by accident usually look better every time because you introduce that element of chance which is so special and unique", says Michelle Wood, a co-organizer of the contest, with whom Bored Panda also got in touch. "However, some staged photos are also hilarious, after all when photographing animals - you never know how they are going to act and that is part of the fun."

"Last year we had lots of dogs and puppies, but this year cats and kittens have been so popular. We are not sure why but delighted to have our first cat Over All Winner of the competition!", Michelle also comments.

However, the doggos also did not go unnoticed. The winner in the Dog category was a shot of a 10-month adopted puppy called Nilo who, for the first time in his life, discovered water, and received a complete range of pleasure. The author of this picture is Jose Bayon.

By the way, dog lovers can be glad that in the People's Choice category, the victory went to photographer Marco Jovanovich, whose picture of a dog named Carter, bathing in the snow with great pleasure, was extremely appreciated by the audience. Carter also has his own great story - he was on a euthanasia list in California, and the new owners made a journey from Chicago to save him. Definitely, it was worth it!

In the Horse category, the winner is the photo "Happy, Happy Horses!" by Radim Filipek, showing a happy mother with her three-day-old foal named Monty. And among all other animals, the best photo of that incredibly imperturbable alpaca was chosen, which looks as if it was smoking a cigar. However, this is just a twig, the author of the funny picture, photographer Stefan Brusius, deliberately notes.

The rest of the photos presented here belong to the Highly Commended category and, perhaps, the following year, their authors might become winners. By the way, already in April 2023, taking photos for a new competition starts, so if you have a camera and a funny pet - maybe this is a sign from above to try to win the next contest?

"We have just started work on the next competition and we always have ideas for new categories - the funnier the better, so watch this space!", adds Michelle Wood.

In any case, enjoy these amazing pictures of our best and funniest friends, and we are almost sure that they have just provided you with a good mood for the whole day!