Best pet Halloween costume photo contest: Last chance to enter

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Pets dressed in their best Halloween costumes? Yes, please.

Here at cleveland.com we are looking forward to seeing all of your pets dressed in a favorite, cute costume. Don't miss your chance to show off your family furbabies!

By now you've figured out that we are very pet friendly bunch over here. Seeing adorable pets always puts a smile on our faces. The deadline for nominating your pupper or kitten (or other delightful pal) is approaching, which might keep us from smiling.

You have until 5 p.m. today to get your pictures to us.

Can you believe October begins tomorrow? Sigh. Stores are ready to celebrate all things Halloween and your neighbors probably as well. If not Christmas!?!

We know pet owners love to show off their babies and what better platform than your local news website? Let's all do each other a solid and get yours in Cleveland.com's photo contest for Best Pet Halloween Costume.

What do you need to do to enter the contest? It's easy-peasy, nothing about it. Simply email us a photo (details below) by Sept. 30. We want to see your pets dressed-up... dogs, cats, - you name it! And yes, if you manage to get your turtle, lizard or ferret to wear something, that counts. We want to see it!

Be sure to send along all of the required information so that you can be included. This also means sharing a phone number or email in case we need to reach you. We've had a few contestants that are missing information and we are unable to reach you. If we can't reach you and get all of the information, we will NOT be able to include your adorable pets.

Haven't picked out this year's costume yet? No worries, you can use last year's pictures... we know you have some on your phone amongst all those meals you've photographed. We aren't too particular on the origin of the costume. Whether it was bought, made or borrowed, as long as it is on your pet it counts.

How to enter the Best Pet Halloween Costume photo contest:

Email a photo of your pet dressed in their Halloween costume to . The deadline is Monday, Sept. 30 at 5:00 p.m. The contest is open to pets from the seven-county coverage area of Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit.

Past years' photos are OK. But we are cutting it off at 100 pets to include in the contest. Remember, we only want one photo per pet, so please choose carefully! Be sure that you enter only one pet per photo to make it fair. Also, please don't include any humans in the photo... after all, this is all about your pets. We want each pet to have their 15 minutes of fame. It's their moment to shine!

To be considered, you must include your pet's name, breed (if applicable) and at least one sentence about your animal, this could be their favorites toys, a trick or what makes him/her special. You will also need to include your name, your hometown and who took the picture, along with your phone number in case we have questions.

Due to copyright laws, keep the photos to ones that you or a family member have taken. Do not submit professional photographs.

If you did not take the photo, we need the name and contact phone number of the photographer, (even if this is your spouse or child) as well as their written consent to publish the photo.

We will select up to 100 contenders and publish their costume photos in early October. The photos will be displayed in alphabetical order according to pet name. All content will be published at cleveland.com/best

A panel of cleveland.com judges will determine up to 20 finalists. The finalists will be announced Oct. 2.

Readers will vote for their favorite in an online poll to determine the top 10 of the Best Pet Halloween Costume photo contest. Voting in the poll begins Oct. 2 and ends Oct. 7 at 5 p.m..

We'll then put up a new poll featuring the top 10. You, our devoted readers will then vote for the winner.

If you don't already have that purrrfect photo of your pet all dressed up for Halloween, it's time to find or take one.

We are looking forward to your emails showing off your furry, fuzzy family pet and can't wait to see all of them dressed up!

We will do a feature on the winner the week of Oct. 21st.