Throw Your Dog A Royal Bone—

The Bee’s Popular Dog Contest Returns

By Shannon Hicks

After a decadelong hiatus, The Bee Publishing Co. has resurrected one of its most popular public events: The King & Queen Dog Contest. Winners will be ride, with their owners, in the Labor Day Parade on September 6, second in the parade only to grand marshal Gordon Williams.

This year’s contest was quietly launched on July 24, with ten dogs visiting the offices of The Bee at 5 Church Hill Road to have their portraits taken. Portrait opportunities will continue through August 7, with dogs and their owners invited to visit The Bee each Thursday between 2 to 5 pm, Fridays between 9 am and 5 pm, and Saturdays between 9 am and noon. Portraits will be shot in the lower parking lot of the newspaper’s offices, rain or shine.

There is no cost to enter the contest, but dogs must have a valid Newtown license to qualify. Dogs of Bee employees will not be competing.

Photographs of all dogs who have entered the contest will be printed in the August 13 and August 20 issues of The Newtown Bee and that’s when the fun will really begin. The first phase of voting will run until Wednesday, August 25. Votes cost 25 cents each, and there is no limit on the number of votes people can place. Ballots will be printed in upcoming issues of The Bee.

The top ten dogs in each category on the afternoon of August 25 will then continue to the second round of voting. The portraits of the top ten male and top ten female dogs will run in the issue of August 27. Voting for that round, the finals, will run until Wednesday, September 1.

The King and Queen will be announced in the September 3 issue of The Newtown Bee.

All money collected through voting will be donated to four local organizations.

When they drop off their ballots, voters will also have the opportunity to decide which organization will receive their donation. This year’s contest will benefit Canine Advocates of Newtown Inc, The Newtown Fund, The Newtown Tercentennial Commission, and Spay and Neuter Association of Newtown (SNAN).

The last time The Bee presented this contest more than 86,000 votes were received. At 10 cents each, that meant voting raised over $8,600 for the contest’s sole beneficiary, SNAN.

“It’s been ten years and this was one of the most popular things we’ve ever done,” Bee Publishing Co. publisher R. Scudder Smith said this week. “It involved a tremendous amount of people — those who brought their dogs in for the contest, the staff members who took the photos and kept everything organized, and the people in town who voted for their favorite contestants.

“It was a big thing the last time around. People were rushing in to vote at the last minute,” Mr Smith added.

In 1994, the last time the contest was held, 175 dogs participated. The winners that year were an 18-month old purebred AKC registered Basset hound named Buster and a 14-year old mixed breed named Cindy.

When voting was approaching the closing hours of the 1994 election, supporters of the leading candidates swung the tide of voting back and forth, according to an article in the August 26, 1994 Bee.

“Ballots were streaming into The Bee’s offices on … the final day for voting,” the story continued. “Between 8 am and the noon deadline, about 25,000 votes accompanied by $2,500 swung the lead back and forth between Buster and Brett on the King side of voting, and between Cindy, Pookie and Vivian on the Queen side.”

In the end Buster received 9,703 votes, while Cindy came from behind to win with a final tally of 7,458 votes. A female candidate named Vivian had been leading the contest since the first phase of voting. Last minute surges put another contestant, Pookie, in front, but then Cindy took that brief lead away from Pookie and captured the title.

“People seemed to enjoy seeing the dogs in the parade, so we thought it was time to do this again,” R. Scudder Smith said. “It also gives us an opportunity to raise money for some local organizations.”