Celebrating the Chinese Year of the Dog with a photo contest for puppies

The Penn Museum is celebrating the upcoming Chinese New Year and start of the Year of the Dog by hosting a dog photo contest on Instagram.

The contest, part of the Penn Museum's 37th annual Chinese New Year Celebration, requires Instagram entries to include their dog's name and a New Year's resolution for their pet in the caption.

"The Year of the Dog came around, and we knew that people love dogs," Tom Stanley, Penn Museum Social Media Coordinator, said. "Certain years on the zodiac calendar are a little less photogenic than others, like the Year of the Rat for example."

Attendees of the Museum's Chinese New Year festivities on Jan. 27 vote on the finalists' photos. The winner of the contest, determined by whose photo gets the most votes in the final round, will receive a one-year membership to the Penn Museum. Second and third place winners will earn gift certificates, while all finalists get a "goodie bag for their dog".

So far there are over 60 entries to the contest, which began on Jan. 6 and ends on Jan. 22.

Tena Thompson, the assistant director for public programs at the Penn Museum, stated that the annual celebration for Chinese New Year is part of the Museum's World Culture Days, a series of programming that celebrates various cultures from around the world throughout each year.

"Many cultures share things, but it's important that we see cultural similarities and explore differences to understand this different part of the world," Thompson said.

The celebration at the Museum will include many activities, such as an illustrated lecture from Penn Museum Curator of Asian Art, Nancy Steinhardt, about dogs in Chinese art. The celebration will end with a traditional Chinese lion dance parade.

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