The prize for this year's Cutest Vegetarian Alive contest was a professional photo shoot and a chance to star in a peta2 ad.
Joe
Bluffton,
Indiana
Joe proves that compassion is cute! He has been a vegan for two years, and he was a vegetarian for a year before that. He stopped eating meat in high school after coming across peta2's video "Meet Your Meat" and realizing that all animals—including the ones on his plate—could feel pain and fear just as his cat companions could. Joe is very passionate about spreading the word about factory farming and advocating animal adoption on his Twitter page. He has two rescued cats, MJ and Foster, and his favorite meal is Thai green curry—yum! He's now a student at Ball State University, majoring in journalism and public relations. He loves to travel and plans to join the Peace Corps after he graduates, and he looks forward to being a voice for animals wherever he goes.
Alex-Chelsea
Billerica, Massachusetts
Alex-Chelsea has always loved and respected animals. She says that she became a vegetarian four years ago because every time she ate meat, she would picture little chickens, and she didn't want her meals to contribute to the killing of animals. She's been a vegan for two years now, and she loves educating people about going vegan. Alex-Chelsea has even influenced her mom, her brother, and many of her friends to stop eating meat! As a writer for her school newspaper, she's written articles about being vegan and meat's impact on climate change. Alex-Chelsea's adorableness shines through in the YouTube videos that she makes about being vegan—she even made a bunch of videos about why she should be named Cutest Vegetarian Alive. She loves to write and draw in her spare time, and her favorite dish is her mom's vegan fettuccini alfredo.