CALLING ALL CANINE HEROES! NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2025 AKC HUMANE FUND AWARDS FOR CANINE EXCELLENCE OPEN NOW WITH EXPANDED CATEGORIES!

NEW YORK, Jan. 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The AKC Humane Fund^SM is pleased to announce that nominations for its 2025 AKC Humane Fund Awards for Canine Excellence (ACE) are open NOW with new expanded and updated categories! Nominations are open until July 1^st, 2025. 

This year, the ACE Awards have revamped their categories to allow a variety of different heroes to be considered for their hard work. There will now be a sixth category honoring teams, which include entire units for Search & Rescue, Therapy Dogs, and Uniformed Service K-9.

Additionally, the general Search & Rescue category will split into two sub-categories, allowing separate honors for Disaster Response, for tragedies such as natural disasters, building collapses, etc. and Human Detection, which include locating remains, missing persons, and/or gravesite detection.

"Every year, dogs continue to show us the positive impact they make on our daily lives," said Doug Ljungren President & CEO of the AKC Humane Fund. "Expanding our search allows the AKC Humane Fund to bring even more awareness to the good deeds dogs do in our communities."

Each year, the AKC Humane Fund, a not-for-profit organization, honors dedicated, hardworking dogs for making significant contributions to an individual or entire community. Since its creation in 2000, 125 ACE awards have been presented. Last year's ACE recipients included a Labrador Retriever who is trained to sniff out hidden electronic devices to stop human trafficking and a rescue dog who went on to become an AKC Agility superstar.

The AKC Humane Fund Awards for Canine Excellence are proudly sponsored by Eukanuba™. Winners will be announced in late 2025 and will be highlighted in a made-for-tv special and will receive $1,000 to be awarded to a pet-related charity of their choice.

In 2025, dogs can be nominated in the following categories:

Uniformed Service K-9
Eligibility: Full-time working K-9s in the realms of city, county, state, or federal law enforcement; the military; firefighting; customs and border patrol; emergency services.

Exemplary Companion
Eligibility: Dogs without formal training or certification that have nonetheless distinguished themselves in some way and have made a meaningful contribution to their owners or communities.

Search and Rescue
Eligibility: Dogs certified to assist in one of two sub-categories:

• Disaster Response (natural disasters, building collapses, etc.)
• Human Detection (remains, missing persons, and/or gravesite detection)

Therapy Dog
Eligibility: Certified therapy dogs working in hospitals, schools, disaster sites, war zones, and wherever else the affection of a good dog can provide comfort.

Service Dog
Eligibility: Service dogs who enrich the lives of physically or mentally disabled owners, including, but not limited to, guide dogs for the blind, seizure-alert dogs, hearing dogs, balance dogs.

Teams
Eligibility: teams certified to assist in search and rescue (human detection and disaster response), therapy and/or K9 police work.

**(Note: Nominees doing therapy work without certification are considered in the Exemplary Companion category.)

Anyone, including the dog's owner or handler, may submit a nomination. Past nominations are eligible for resubmission for these awards.

Submissions for the AKC Humane Fund Awards for Canine Excellence for 2025 must include:

• A digital photograph of dog. Files must be larger than 1MB in size and a minimum of 300 dpi. The photo should feature solely the nominated dog.
• A 500-word-or-less description of how the dog has demonstrated excellence.
• Dog's call name, breed, age and sex.
• Owner's/Nominator's name(s), address, phone number and e-mail address.

PLEASE NOTE: We do not accept posthumous nominations.

Nominations will be accepted until July 1^st, 2025 and should be submitted here with a photo sent to [email protected].

For more information about the ACE awards or to nominate a dog, visit the AKC Humane Fund Awards For Canine Excellence (ACE) page.

The AKC Humane Fund^SM promotes responsible pet ownership through education, outreach and grant-making. Through its programs, the AKC Humane Fund supports Parent Club Rescue activities; assists shelters for domestic abuse victims that permit pets and provides resources for responsible dog ownership education. Contributions to the AKC Humane Fund are fully tax deductible as allowed by law under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code.

About the American Kennel Club

Founded in 1884, the American Kennel Club is a not-for-profit organization which maintains the largest registry of purebred dogs in the world and oversees the sport of purebred dogs in the United States. The AKC is dedicated to upholding the integrity of its registry, promoting the sport of purebred dogs and breeding for type and function.  Along with its more than 5,000 licensed and member clubs and its affiliated organizations, the AKC advocates for the purebred dog as a family companion, advances canine health and well-being, works to protect the rights of all dog owners and promotes responsible dog ownership. More than 26,000 competitions for AKC-registered purebred and mixed breed dogs are held under AKC rules and regulations each year including conformation, agility, obedience, rally, tracking, herding, lure coursing, coonhound events, hunt tests, field and earthdog tests.

Affiliate AKC organizations include the AKC Humane Fund, AKC Canine Health Foundation, AKC Reunite, the AKC Museum of the Dog, and the AKC Purebred Preservation Bank. For more information, visit www.akc.org.

SOURCE AKC Humane Fund