Our Kind Matters Animal Superhero Drawing Competition has come to a close!

We received over 300 pawesome entries from tamariki all around Aotearoa, full of creative drawings and thoughtful ideas. Ka pai and a big well done to everyone who entered!

We loved seeing all the ways you were superheroes for animals - from caring for pets every day, to rescuing animals from danger and helping the environment by creating safe places for them to live.

It was very hard to choose winners because there were so many amazing entries! When choosing, we looked at both the artwork and the description explaining how you were a hero to animals. The winners and highly commended entries stood out for their creativity, effort and the caring ideas they shared.

Check out the amazing winning entries below!

Check out the amazing highly commended entries!

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

A huge shout out and thanks to our wonderful sponsors Vetlife and EUGY by Dodoland!

A huge thank you to everyone who entered the Animal Book Review Competition.

We were so impressed by all the entries - the range of books you chose and the thoughtful reviews really stood out.

Congratulations to our winner, Jimmy (age 8)!

Jimmy (pictured below with some of his pawesome prize pack) shared loads of great information about his chosen book, created a brilliant illustration of his favourite part and included a powerful message about why it’s important to protect animals in need. Well done, Jimmy!

Make sure you also check out the highly commended entries – they’re full of creativity, great ideas and a real love of animals.

A big thank you to Scholastic for sponsoring awesome book prize packs.

Tino pai to everyone who entered, and a huge congratulations to our winners!

We're thrilled to reveal the winners of our Term 3 Kind Matters Photography Competition! 

We were amazed by the 535 awesome entries that we received! Everyone did a fantastic job capturing animals expressing their unique natural behaviours.  

It was tough choosing the winning photographs, but thankfully we had the keen eye of Press Photographer Alden Williams (IG @aldenwilliams), our guest judge, to help. Alden is an award-winning photographer and was named New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year in 2020!  

Winning photographs were selected not only for showing great photography skill, but also capturing animals expressing natural behaviours. Remember, it’s important for animals to be able to express their natural behaviours as it helps them to feel good, and to be happy and healthy.  

We have announced the winners below in three sections. Our overall winner, age group winners and finally our highly commended winners. 

Drum roll please... 

Overall Winner

Congratulations to our Overall Winner, Emily, age 15.

Emily captured the cats Poppy and Rose, who are sisters. Rose is watching Poppy explore, Poppy is surprised to see Rose outside.  Emily has won an Apple iPad! 

Judge's comments: Well done Emily, this photo is perfect. You have captured the tension and surprise of this moment. Your photo is very fly on the wall/documentary style. Excellently composed.  

Cats can be curious and social animals, you’ve captured a wonderful moment in time where Poppy and Rose are interacting, and it looks like Rose may even pounce on her sister.  

Age Category Winners

Under 5s: Bodhi, age 3

Judge's Comments: Excellent fun photo Bodhi. You have captured a pig in its element perfectly. Nicely framed showing enough of its environment also. 

5-7 years: Olivia, age 7

Judge's Comments: Great photo Olivia, excellent framing and composition of an animal having fun. The lower angle is ideal for a dog doing some digging. Good even exposure too. Well done.

8- 10 years: Jaxson, age 10

Judge's Comments: Cool photo Jaxson. You’ve captured your cat thriving in its natural environment. Excellent exposure and composition.  

11-13 years: Cooper, age 13

Judge's Comments: Nice frame Cooper. Always a challenge photographing a wild animal. You have captured it mid call. Accurate focus and good composition.    

14- 16 years: Maia, age 14

Judge's Comments: Good photo, Maia. Nice layering and accurate focus. A true New Zealand image.   

Highly Commended

Another huge thank you to our guest judge Alden and our wonderful competition sponsors, XP and EUGY by Dodoland.  

Tino pai to everyone who entered, and a huge congratulations to our winners! Here are some of our pawesome winners with their prizes!

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.