Make Fido A Star

Hallmark Cards Inc. is launching the "Your Pets" competition. "Your Pets" is an opportunity for animal lovers and amature greeting-card designers to submit ideas for a very special birthday greeting.

"Your Pets" is the second competition of its kind sponsored by Hallmark. Hallmark is looking for the "funniest" pet photo in America, and a witty Birthday greeting to go along with it. The card ideas, submitted by consumers, will be judged, and 67 finalists will see their cards printed and sold by Hallmark both online and in stores. Each finalist will receive a $250 prize. Visitors to Hallmark's website will then vote to determine a grand-prize winner who will receive $1,000 and a trip to the card company's headquarters. The competition - according to the Hallmark press release - "is all about our favorite four-legged friends and the things they do to make us smile. In YourPets, Hallmark is encouraging pet owners to dig through their photo albums and submit the funniest, most endearing, cutest, silliest, or most creative pet photos along with a corresponding 'birthday' sentiment for a chance to win." "Hallmark consumers have never been shy about sharing their ideas for new greeting cards with us - including sending us their funny pet photos - and we love to hear from them," said Lindsey Roy, senior product manager at Hallmark. "In fact, we want to encourage it. With these competitions, we're giving our fans an opportunity to turn those great ideas into real Hallmark cards." To enter the competition, log on to http://www.Hallmark.com/you between Jan. 14 and Feb. 3, 2008. The designs in the contest will be selected based on the following criteria: -- Sendability (how easily the card can be sent to multiple people) -- Theme (how well it fits the funny pet birthday photo theme) -- Humor/cohesiveness of caption (how well the pet photo and writing go together) Finalists will be announced starting March 3.