Winners Get a Special Prize Pack and a Starring Role in Their Own PETA Kids Ad
For Immediate Release:
October 18, 2011
Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382
Norfolk, Va. -- Everyone knows that children love animals—so it should come as no surprise that more kids than ever are sticking up for their animal friends and ditching the burgers and chicken nuggets in favor of a compassionate (and healthy) vegetarian diet. That's why PETA Kids is more excited than ever to announce its fifth annual World's Cutest Vegetarian Kid contest—a spinoff of PETA's headline-grabbing Sexiest Vegetarian Alive contest.
"Vegetarian kids really are cuter because the better you feel on the inside, the better you look on the outside—and there's nothing cuter than kindness," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman, whose 8-year-old son is being raised vegan. "The vegetarian kids who enter our contest are on the road to a healthy, long life, and that makes them all winners."
To enter a child in the contest, parents should visit PETAKids.com and upload a photo and a brief biography of the child (12 years old and younger), including the child's name, age, and city and state of residence as well as the reason why the child went vegetarian. The entry round ends October 31, and 10 finalists (five girls and five boys) will be chosen by PETA. The voting round to help PETA Kids determine the winners will open November 1, and one boy and one girl finalist will be chosen as winners on November 17. PETA will choose the winners based on four equally considered factors: The passion demonstrated in submitted responses, the number of votes received from the public, the enthusiasm demonstrated by the entrants in living and promoting a vegetarian lifestyle, and PETA's assessment of the cuteness of the photo. Each winner will receive the opportunity to appear in his or her very own PETA Kids ad and a special prize pack filled with PETA goodies, including an "I Am Not a Nugget" backpack, comic books, and T-shirts.
Every kid who goes vegetarian saves more than 100 animals every year from immense suffering on factory farms, in slaughterhouses, and on the decks of fishing boats. The meat industry is also responsible for vast amounts of pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions. And with some kids showing signs of heart disease before they even start first grade, switching to a vegan diet is a good move for kids' health, too: On average, vegetarians are thinner and fitter than meat-eaters are.
For more information and to enter a child in the contest, please visit PETAKids.com or click here.