Cadbury Bunny Tryout Winners Give Their Tips on How to Claim the Famous Rabbit Ears in 2022

The past three winners of the Cadbury Bunny Tryouts will make up the judges panel for this year's contest and will help chose the winner for 2022

Photo: cadbury

The Cadbury Bunny Tryouts are back!

For the fourth year in a row, Cadbury is searching for a beloved pet to fill in for their famous Cadbury bunny in an upcoming commercial. The pet who is picked will also win $5,000 and bunny bragging rights.

The tryouts are open to all pets, whether they have scales, fur, or feathers. For an animal to enter, their pet parent must submit a photo of them wearing bunny ears to the Cadbury Bunny Tryouts website by February 21.

For the first time, the Cadbury Bunny Tryouts will include a judges panel. The past winners of the Cadbury Bunny Tryouts — Henri the English Bulldog, special needs canine Lieutenant Dan, and Betty the Tree Frog — will make up the panel, which will choose the tryout's top 10 finalists. The public will then vote on their favorite out of the selected 10, and the pet with the most votes will become the new Cadbury bunny.

To help pets prepare for this unique opportunity, PEOPLE spoke with the tryout's past winners and this year's judges panel about what it takes to be the Cadbury bunny.

"Don't stress your pet, number one. Have fun with this. It's such a fun experience," Kathie Santillo, who helped her English bulldog Henri win the first tryouts, tells PEOPLE on her advice to this year's entrants.

cadbury

Santillo also says patience and repetition are key to getting the best submission photo.

"I'm not ashamed to say it; I have 39,000 photos from this year of Henri on my camera," the pet parent says.

When taking photos of their pets wearing bunny ears, owners should "try it for a minute and then put it away and then try it again," Santillo says. This will give pets time to get comfortable with the prop. For pets who don't like headwear at all, Cadbury offers digital bunny ears on their website for the tryouts.

Pet parents shouldn't let the limited range of bunny ears available for purchase keep them from entering their furry friend.

"I think something unique about us is we couldn't buy bunny ears, so we had to make our own. So that's what we did, which was really fun," Kaitlyn Vidal, Betty the tree frog's owner, says.

Laura Weber, the dog mom to two-legged canine Lieutenant Dan, advises pet owners to add a bit of personality to their photoshoots.

"We wanted to incorporate things he liked. He loves squeaky toys, he loves balls, so gave him things he could carry around during the photoshoot," Weber says of getting the winning shots of Lieutenant Dan. "We utilized what he liked to make it a fun experience for him."

Weber notes that it is also important for pet parents to spend some time sharing their pet's story in the written portion of their submission.

"We're excited to be able to read all the different stories from the contestants this year, and we had a lot of fun being able to do that part and tell that story," Weber says of Lieutenant Dan's judge role.

Vidal is looking forward to seeing the variety of pets that will enter this year's Cadbury Bunny Tryouts.

"Even if you think your pet's not special, really all our pets are. I think it'll be cool to see all the different shapes and sizes entered. Like who knew a frog so small could win?" Vidal says of her frog's win. "And of course, most people don't think of a frog being cute and cuddly, but I think Betty definitely proved people wrong."

To enter and give their pet a chance to be the next Cadbury bunny, pet owners need to submit a photo of their pet wearing bunny ears to https://bunnytryouts.cadburyusa.com/ by February 21. The winner of the 2022 tryouts will be announced on March 29.