Kids’ Colouring Competition - 720+ entries

Our Kind Matters Colouring Competition has come to a close! With over 720 children from across Aotearoa submitting their colourful entries and doing a fantastic job learning about the impact of plastic waste on animals - and how we can make a difference - choosing the winners was no easy task!

Thanks to our amazing supporters, we were able to award five winning entries with a pawesome prize, and 15 highly commended entries each received a EUGY. In addition, three schools – St. Mary’s School in Hastings, St. Joseph’s School in New Plymouth, and Mangāre Central School in Auckland - were each gifted a full class set of EUGYs in recognition of their fantastic entries and their great work learning about protecting animals from plastic waste.

Check out the awesome tamariki from Rūma 8, St Mary’s School Hastings – their fantastic entries won them a set of EUGY!

Competitions are a great way to have fun, learn and to try something new - keep an eye out for our next Kind Matters competition at the beginning of Term 3!

A huge shout out and thank you to our wonderful competition sponsors: Elastic Island Adventures, EUGY by dodoland, Office Max, Plantation Island Resort and HoneyWrap.

Design a Dog Bandana and WIN! 

During the summer holidays, we invited you to unleash you creativity by designing a dog bandana for a chance to win a soft toy dog, who is proudly wearing an SPCA bandana. Thank you everyone who entered, there were many super awesome bandana designs!

Congratulations to our lucky prize draw winner, Mia, who at only 6 years of age put in a fantastic effort designing her dog bandana, even drawing animal paws and dog bones. Mia had this to say when she received her prize – “Thank you very much for these amazing gifts SPCA.” 

Remember - dressing up animals may look cute, but not all clothing is suitable for animals. Fun bandanas or collars can be a great animal-friendly alternative to restrictive costumes or clothing. To learn more about this topic check out Kind Matters - Issue 34

Drum roll please …….. we are delighted to announce the winners of our Kind Matters ‘Animals at Home’ Photography Competition 2024!  

We were blown away by the incredible number of entries we received! 

Not only were the entrants judged on their photography skills and techniques, but they also had to capture their animal(s) living a good life in their home environment.

With a focus on environment, we asked you to think about where their animal(s) live and to consider how a safe and comfortable home environment supports an animal to live a happy and healthy life.   

Each photo showcased your creativity, photography skills, and love for your furry, feathered and scaly friends.

Choosing one winner for each category was a real challenge. Our head judge, Jo Moore, carefully reviewed all the amazing photos, and we are excited to share the first and second place entries below along with a few words from her. 

Maia-Akira - Beautiful image. I love that the kitten is reflected in the glass and the photographer has captured a "moment in time”. I also enjoy the composition of the image with the kitten being in the bottom left - your eye is then drawn up to the blue sky. The viewer of the image wonders what the kitten is watching. I think this is a really lovely image. The kitten is clearly loving looking out the window and has a great, cosy spot in the window to safely watch the world go by.

Claudia - The first thing you see is those beautiful golden eyes looking directly at the camera. The orange of the cupboard or draw below emphasizes that warm hue of the eyes. It's also delightful that the cat is resting their chin on their fluffy paw. Looks very comfortable.

Max - What a happy image. You can't help but smile along with the dog. Like the close-up composition - you can see the little bubbles in his mouth! Well exposed and an interesting angle.

Isla - I like that the first thing that draws your eye is the bright shiny eyes of the dog who looks supremely happy and snuggly in their cosy bed. The image is nice and sharp, well exposed and the dog is the clear focus - good composition.

Lincoln - Beautiful close up of the cow's nose - you can really see a lot of fine detail. I love that you can see those pretty eyes behind with their long lashes. The colours are great in this image.

Annabelle - It took me a second to realise that the second rabbit is not real. I like that little twist in the image - makes you look again. The bright flowers draw the viewer's eye down to the rabbit's blue eyes then out to those fantastic whiskers!

Finley - Admiring that the photographer was able to capture the large fish actually in the shelter. Great timing! Well exposed, bright colours and I enjoy the diggers bucket leading the eye down to the orange fish.

Congratulations everyone! Here are a few of the happy winners.