For the third year in a row, our Munich startup LucyBalu hosted the "Cat Model Contest". With even more challenges for the participants, the social media contest, which ran over 2 months, really had it all!

The voting process

More than 5,000 entries reached us. Cats in all shapes, colours and kinds were proposed as possible cover models. We were simply overwhelmed by the great response. All cat models who collected more than 100 likes for their photo made it to the next roand. 

The team auditions

Then the auditions began - all participants could apply for a team of their choice. Team @sinascolorcats, Team @kickassyoga, Team @foto.maedchen or Team @what_eva_loves (shown in this order in the picture below). All participants who had applied for the live shoot automatically went into Team @lucybalu. Depending on the team you applied for, you were then assigned a photo task.

The photo challenge

After another round of selection, 25 catsmade it into each team. From these, after a further challenge, 6 cats were each chosen by the influencers.

The community voting

In the community vote, 8 cats were then selected for the home shoot and 8 cats for the live shoot am in a photo studio in Munich on 22–23 July.
Several thousand people took part here. We were overwhelmed. 

So, after just two months, countless posts and many votes, we went from over 5,000 candidates to our 16 finalists an.

The final

With 16 Finalist:innen the time had finally come on 22–23 July 2023!

While 8 cats each struck a pose in their own four walls, another 8 finalists came to us in Munich. HERE we introduce the 16 indoor cats.
Both animal and human well-being were taken care of.

The finalists from the live shoot 

To Munich came Aslan from @aslan_n_friends, Wuschl von @beatecats, Tigger von @caroskittycats, Fabius von @fabfab_theothercat, Lucky von @finja_lucky.blueeyes, Lucy von @floofy__lucy, Lio von @mizi.lio.cats und Milo von @myteam_mimi walked in through the door one after another and were ready to give everything for the title. The pictures of the 8 cats in the order named:

We were able to take beautiful and unique photos with each of the cats. The pictures of the "stay-at-home ones“ Oliver von @_littleoliver, O'Malley von @fergus_omalley , Hildegard von @hildegard_the_ragdoll, Honey von @honeyandfluffy_ragdollcats, Khaleesi von @khaleesi.und.ole, Miyu von @luramoona, Akira von @twofluffballs_  und Bella von @v.d.heyde150770 turned out simply superb and really brought out the respective character of the cats. The pictures of the 8 cats in the order named:

We at LucyBalu would love to declare every one of the 16 (and all the others) winners – and for us they are!

The winner - our LucyBalu Catmodel 2022

The choice for Cat Model 2022, which will grace the cover of the September issue of "Geliebte Katze", fell on OLIVER!!! 🥳

A little backstory about Oliver that his owner told us after the win:

"Oliver was born on the street in Kyiv in a cellar; unfortunately the situation with stray animals in Ukraine is difficult. He had a severe infection and an injured eye.
Either he or the eye had to be saved, so the eye was removed.

It was 2020, Covid, I saw Oliver in an Instagram group — he was small, with trimmed whiskers, not fluffy at all and one-eyed. :)

I fell in love with him. My husband and I wanted to take him in and take care of him. We nursed him, he grew stronger, he became so fluffy and very cheerful. :)

Before the war, Oliver and I travelled a lot around Ukraine. Oliver visited several cities and even went to the sea.
The war has changed everything. We hardly go anywhere any more or go for walks in the forest, which Oliver loves. 

I really dream that once the war is over, we can travel through Europe as a whole family, visit Germany and meet everyone who made this great contest happen.

We are grateful for this because it was able to distract us from the hard daily grind."

 

We're delighted that we were able to tell Oliver's story and also thank all the other fluffy participants – we are already looking forward to next year! 🐈💕