YDR Insider

Over the past month or so, the Living staff has been running a photo contest for pets in Halloween costumes. Folks submitted their photos to the online gallery at ydr.com/gallery, and when the contest ended Nov. 1, I sent out an email to the Living staff for a vote.

You can check out the results of the contest online or in Monday’s Living section, but here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the heated debate about Taco Cat.

She arrived in the gallery fairly early into our contest, and so one day when fellow copy editor April Trotter thought her email might be down, I emailed her the Taco Cat photo as a test.

She forwarded the photo to her boyfriend, who became oddly attached to the cat. When we announced the winners and April passed on the information, her boyfriend accused us of rigging it, because — spoiler alert — Taco Cat had not won first place.

As it turns out, while Taco Cat had plenty of fans, we had a detractor in the Living staff too. I won’t name names, but when talk of the contest’s results came up and it was mentioned Taco Cat had indeed placed (just not first), one staffer was more than a little upset:

Editor 1: Taco Cat?! No!
Me: What?! Taco Cat was awesome!
Editor 2: You didn’t like Taco Cat?!
Editor 1: No! I was hoping for the pug in the ballerina costume.

So Taco Cat, you have won your fame in the Living department — even if you didn’t win first place. See the complete results and a gallery of all submitted photos here.