Giant Panda Zoo Awards 2013

[zooboy28]

Well its awards season again, and so time for the return of the Giant Panda Zoo Awards for 2013. Not that I knew there were previous awards for this, but apparently there has been - see the 2012 winners here: Giant Panda Zoo Awards 2012: Gold, Silver & Bronze Winners | www.GiantPandaZoo.com

The awards to be voted for this year are:

Award 1: Panda Cub of the Year
Award 2: Favourite Panda in China
Award 3: Favourite ‘Returned’ Panda
Award 4: Favourite Panda Outside of China
Award 5: Panda Personality of the Year: “The Bear”
Award 6: Panda Personality of the Year: “The Human”
Award 7: Panda Keeper of the Year
Award 8: Favourite Panda Enclosure
Award 9: Favourite Panda Charity
Award 10: Panda Moment of the Year

To see the nominees and to vote see the official website here: Giant Panda Zoo Awards 2013: Voting is open! | www.GiantPandaZoo.com
Voting closes 14 January.

 

[mauro1970]

I would have liked to rerun Xiao Liwu for Award 1: Panda Cub of the Year
. She already ran last year but she's too cute.

The San Diego zoo enclosure is up for Award 8: Favorite Panda Enclosure too IMO.

I 'd also liked to nominate Xiao Liwu's birthday party for Award 10: Panda Moment of the Year.

Screenshot taken using Pocket Zoo for Android

 

[zooboy28]

I really don't understand why this hasn't gotten more attention here?

Seriously though, its good marketing for the zoos involved, and obviously interests the public - apparently almost 250,000 votes were cast in this years awards, and many winning zoos have mentioned this on their Facebook pages and in media releases:

Winners announced here: Giant Panda Zoo Awards 2013 – The Winners | www.GiantPandaZoo.com

The winners of the Giant Panda Zoo Awards 2013 were revealed on January 17, 2014 at an Official Award Ceremony at Zoo Atlanta. 239.456 votes were registered during the one-month online voting in 10 categories.
The highest amount of voters came from the United States, Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Austria, Australia, China, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Russia, Switzerland and Hungary.

The winners for favourite enclosure were: 1st: Zooparc de Beauval (France), 2nd: Smithsonian National Zoo (USA), 3rd: Zoo Madrid (Spain). So that gives an idea of the knowledge and expertise behind the awards...