All projects must be relevant to animals in Australia and either:
Change attitudes and/or increase awareness about animal rights (eg. through school education, higher education, or community programs that educate about animal issues, public awareness campaigns on an animal issue etc); or
Encourage the public to take action for animals in their personal lives (eg. making changes in their consumer choices by choosing animal-friendly products or diet); or
Work to modify or create new laws or policies to further animal protection in Australia.
In 2009, projects must not only fit into these criteria (1, 2 and 3 above) but must also address one or more of the following categories:
Factory farming. This includes all forms of ‘industrialised farming’ for food such as meat chickens, hens, pigs, cows used for dairy and beef production and other intensive systems. Projects addressing the plight of bobby calves and live export of animals will also be accepted; or
The commercial kangaroo industry. This does not include alleged 'conservation-based' culls undertaken by Government associated entities; or
If your project falls outside of these categories, unfortunately your application will not be considered for judging.
Furthermore, your application will not be considered if it:
does not have the primary aim of improving the lives of animals in Australia; or
is seeking funding for the set-up or infrastructural costs for an organisation/group without specific reference to an eligible project; or
seeks primarily to benefit humans rather than animals.
Projects such as these might fit into this category:
Market research to benchmark Australians' attitudes to animal protection issues. A statistically significant number of Australians would be surveyed with regards to their animal-related values, attitudes and behaviour. For ideas see the Humane Research Council's (HRC) 'Animal Tracker' in the USA and The Mobium Group 'Green Tracker'.
An Australian version of the 'Humane Index': In the United States, the Humane Society researches and measures how humane the 25 largest cities in the United States are. Based on how well they meet 12 different 'humane' criteria, the cities are ranked on the Humane Index.
A local initiative along the lines of the British "Label My Food" campaign - promoting thorough and accurate labelling of food and drink products across all commercial outlets, including grocery stores and eateries.
