Each mascot will be judged in several categories, giving them a final score at the end. Mascots with the highest scores in their categories will win the grand prize, and the second highest score will win the runner-up prize.

Scoring Breakdown:

Points (minus born points and any points from animal awards earned before the contest begins) - 40%

Favorite Overall (by vote) - 10%

Best Picture (by vote) - 20%

Best Name (by vote) - 10%

Best Backstory (by vote) - 20%

The mascots are judged on a curve with the highest in each judging category scoring 100, and then every other mascot's score being a percentage of that. The same is done for each of the judging categories (based on the number of votes), and then each mascot's collection of scores is put into a weighed score calculator using the percentages above to determine their final score.

The mascots with the highest final scores will be the winners in their individual categories. Bonus prizes can be won by mascots in any category because scores are derived separately for EACH category (horse tickets/shows, horse no tickets/no shows, dog tickets/shows, and dog no tickets/no shows), so it's possible for an animal in a no ticket/no show category to have a higher ending score than an animal in a ticket/show category.

Sample Scoring

There are three entrants in the Horse Tickets/Shows category. Their final point and vote breakdowns are as follows: 

Mascot A ends with 11,000,000 points, 10 votes for favorite overall, 11 votes for favorite picture, 3 votes for favorite name, and 0 votes for best backstory.

Mascot B ends with 5,450,000 points, 21 votes for favorite overall, 2 votes for favorite picture, 15 votes for favorite name, and 20 votes for best backstory.

Mascot C ends with 9,900,000 points, 2 votes for favorite overall, 1 votes for favorite picture, 23 votes for favorite name, and 19 votes for best backstory.

Their scores will be as follows:

Mascot A

Points: 100

Overall: 47.61

Picture: 100

Name: 13.04

Backstory: 0

Mascot B

Points: 49.54

Overall: 100

Picture: 18.18

Name: 65.21

Backstory: 100

Mascot C

Points: 90

Overall: 9.52

Picture: 9.09

Name: 100

Backstory: 95

After being put through the weighted calculator, the final scores are:

Mascot A: (40×100+10×47.61+20×100+10×13.04+20×0) / (40+10+20+10+20) = 6606.5 / 100 = 66.06

Mascot B: (40×49.54+10×100+20×18.18+10×65.21+20×100) / (40+10+20+10+20) = 5997.3 / 100 = 59.97

Mascot C: (40×90+10×9.52+20×9.09+10×100+20×95) / (40+10+20+10+20) = 6777 / 100 = 67.77

Which makes their final placing:

Grand Prize: Mascot C

Runner-Up: Mascot A

Finalist (non-prize winning): Mascot B