The nine finalists in the Penn Musuem’s #YearOfTheDog Photo Contest were on display at the Museum during their Chinese New Year Celebration; attendees got to vote on their favorite photos, then the Museum counted the votes and announced the winner. They received more than 100 submissions, featuring dogs of all shapes, sizes, and breeds. The Museum featured each submission in a slideshow at Saturday’s Celebration. To view all the submissions go to  penn.museum/contest

These finalists were chosen by Philly Instagram phenom Albert Lee (@urphillypal). His comments on each of the finalists are shown below. 

• Top left: Inky Christianson, “A dog sitting on a carpet with her own face on it may be the most meta thing I’ve ever seen.”
• Top middle: Pepper the Therapy Dog, “This contest is to celebrate Chinese New Year, after all.”
• Top right: Oliver Biden, “When your photo doesn’t need a caption to describe the feelings in the picture, it’s perfect.”
• Center left: Armani, “I’m a sucker for great dog portraits.”
•  Center middle: Kygo,  “What’s not to LOVE?” First Prize Winner! Won a free, one-year Household Membership to the Penn Museum for his human.
• •Center right: Doxie,  “Parlez-vous français?” Third Prize winner won a $20 gift certificate to the Penn Museum Shop.
• Bottom left: Axl, “Ben Franklin makes any photo better.”
•  Bottom middle: Larry the bulldog, “It’s not the new year until it’s Chinese New Year!” Second Prize winner won a $25 gift certificate to the Pepper Mill Café.
• Bottom right: Bailey the shihpoo, “Bailey is all of us.....”