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Does your cat possess the mana of the Lion King or is your dog an absolute sitter for Scooby Doo? Then Southern Cross Pet Insurance (SCPI) wants you to nominate your pet for the Southern Cross Pawsies awards. They also want to hear Kiwi tales of excellence about the unsung heroes who look after our pets – day in, day out – our vet clinic teams.

“Our dogs and cats bring us so much joy, so it’s time we had a way to truly celebrate the gift they give us,” says Anthony McPhail, CEO of SCPI and proud dad to three beloved dogs and two cats. “We’ve launched The Southern Cross Pet Insurance Pawsies to help showcase New Zealand’s finest felines and precious pups, and to find the vet clinic team which is doing everything it takes to help our pets live their best lives.”

The Pawsies are destined to become the Oscars of Pooches, the Grammys of Felines – but the awards are not just about beauty or even talent.

“We’re looking for the most characterful dog and cat in Aotearoa. Personality will be key to our winners’ success, so make sure when you nominate your ngeru/cat or kurī/dog, that you choose a picture and craft a description which best captures their special personality. You’ll want to really motivate other New Zealanders to vote for your beloved furbaby – so go for gold!

“When it comes to nominations for the outstanding veterinary clinic team award, we want to hear about how they have helped your pet live its best pet life. We all know how well they care and treat our furry family members – now it’s your time to shout about your vet from the rooftops!”

The winners of Dog of the Year and Cat of the Year for 2025 will each get a swag of great prizes including a Pickle’s Pawtrait, a $500 pet store voucher, 1 on 1 virtual training with Mark Vette, and other goodies, the opportunity to be world famous in Aotearoa thanks to a billboard display and, of course, an exclusive and very desirable Pawsies trophy.

Likewise, the winning vet clinic team will get a ‘kit out your kitchen’ pack, special award pins and their very own Pawsies trophy to display in their practice rooms.

“Kate Winslet may keep her Oscar in her downstairs loo, but we reckon The Pawsies trophy will take a rather more salubrious pride of place in three lucky locations for best dog, best cat and best vet team,” says McPhail.

“We encourage as many New Zealanders to get involved as possible. Let’s celebrate our pets and vets and make sure The Pawsies gets off to a fabulous start, so that we can celebrate it for years to come.”

What’s next?

• Nominate your cat, kitten, puppy or dog for The Pawsies here. You’ll need an eye-‘cat’ching pic and some ‘dog’gone excellent notes to be in to win
• Also nominate your vet clinic team; the awesome humans who go out of their way to help your pet live its very best pet life. Be sure to let us know exactly what they’ve done for you and, importantly, how they do it!
• Nominations close on 16 April, then our stellar cast of judges will whittle down the list to five cat finalists and five dog finalists, making their decision by 12 May. Our judges are the amazing Mark Vette (animal behaviour expert), Lana Cochrane-Searle from the MoreFM Breakfast show and our very own SCPI expert Grant Sanders
• From 14 to 28 May, all New Zealanders will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite cat and dog from the finalists – and we have absolutely no problem if people campaign, hard!
• The three winners – Cat of the Year, Dog of the Year and Vet Clinic Team of the Year will be announced early June.

For more information about the Southern Cross Pet Insurance Pawsies and to nominate your cat, dog and vet clinic team, head to www.southerncrosspet.co.nz/pawsies