Best Animal-Friendly Retailer
Bath & Body Works, Inc.
With more than 1,500 stores in the United States, Bath & Body Works is one of the most popular personal-care product companies around. And it's also one of the nicest companies to animals, as Bath & Body Works refuses to participate in cruel and unnecessary animal tests. Whether you choose Warm Vanilla Sugar Volumizing Shampoo or White Cherry Blossom Bubble Bath, you will look gorgeous, and no animals will be harmed!
Most Progressive Politician
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Dogs were howling with delight when Governor Schwarzenegger recently won reelection. In 2006, Schwarzenegger signed a bill banning the chaining or tethering of dogs for more than three hours at a time in California. Dogs who are left chained for long periods of time suffer horribly from loneliness and confinement, as these pack animals crave companionship and exercise. Chained dogs are far more likely to become aggressive and bite people. Ducks are also big fans of the governor, as he signed a ground-breaking law in 2004 banning the production and sale of foie gras, the cruel "delicacy of despair" made by force-feeding ducks in order to induce liver disease.
Best Humane Wildlife Innovation
WindowAlert
A staggering number of birds die each year when they crash into windows that they can't see. That's why PETA was thrilled to learn of WindowAlert, a clear decal that reflects ultraviolet light, which is visible to birds and allows them to steer clear and stay safe. We at PETA have equipped the windows of our Norfolk, Virginia, office with WindowAlert decals; if you don't have them on the windows of your office building or school yet, please ask the folks in charge to get them. The blue jays, robins, and woodpeckers of your town will be extremely grateful!
North America's Best Vegetarian-Friendly Restaurant Chain
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc.
Red Robin restaurants are well known for their fun, family-friendly atmospheres. Now they are becoming increasingly popular among animal-friendly and health-conscious diners, thanks to their tasty vegetarian selections. Customers can choose a Boca burger or a Gardenburger in place of cow flesh for any of the many gourmet burgers on the menu. Red Robin restaurants also offer a creative variety of delicious vegetarian toppings, including grilled pineapple rings, guacamole, onion straws, and salsa, along with a side of Red Robin's signature bottomless fries.
Best Cruelty-Free Athletic Shoe
Saucony, Inc.
With decisions by massive clothing companies and designers ranging from Ralph Lauren to Marc Bouwer to save thousands of animals by switching to humane, top-quality alternatives, the tide is turning in the animals' favor. 
Helping to lead the way is Saucony, which offers a wide variety of men's and women's athletic shoes that are made entirely of non-animal-derived materials. Saucony even has a collection specifically labeled "vegan," the ultra-trendy Jazz Lowpro Vegan Collection. With leather-free shoes growing in popularity among athletes and hip young shoppers, cows everywhere are breathing a collective sigh of relief.
Best Cruelty-Free Kids Shampoo
John Paul Mitchell Systems
John Paul Mitchell Systems is legendary for its outstanding hair-care products and for its compassion for animals. While some personal-care companies continue to pour chemicals into the eyes and mouths of rabbits and mice during cruel experiments, Paul Mitchell was the first hair-care company to publicly oppose vivisection. The company's new Baby Don't Cry Shampoo is gentle on babies' eyes and hair and comes highly recommended by the toddlers of several PETA employees!
Best Cruelty-Free Personal Care Product Line
JASON Natural Products
JASON Natural Products is one of PETA's all-time favorite companies, as every single one of its 200-plus products is completely cruelty-free, with no animal testing. Top-quality but affordable, the JASON line keeps showing up in new places as more stores respond to the demand for cruelty-free items by stocking JASON products on their shelves. Ranging from deodorant and shampoo to toothpaste and sunscreen, JASON's line has everything you need to keep your body looking and feeling healthy without harming a single rabbit or mouse.
Best Innovators in Food Service
RC Fine Foods
RC Fine Foods is a leading producer of an array of food products that are distributed to restaurants and food service companies around the country. RC Fine Foods' latest creations have animals and diners alike cheering—vegetarian versions of beef and chicken bases for soups, stocks, sauces, and gravies. Made with no animal products whatsoever, these bases supply a tantalizing flavor and aroma to a variety of vegetarian dishes. Considering that recent surveys of restaurant owners by the National Restaurant Association have revealed skyrocketing customer demand for vegetarian dishes, it's no wonder that RC Fine Foods and other top-quality companies are rushing to create new delicious, animal-free products.
Most Vegetarian-Friendly Food Service Operator
Sodexho, Inc.
Food service company Sodexho, Inc. is definitely tuned in to the growing demand for animal-friendly dining options, especially among college students. Independent surveys have found that nearly a quarter of college students want vegan options at every meal, and Sodexho is responding by offering creative, satisfying animal-free dishes on university campuses. At Northwestern University, health-conscious and vegetarian students can enjoy Vegan Chicken Cacciatore, Seitan Pepper "Steak," and vegetarian chili. Marquette University's dining halls feature such delights as Vegan Breaded Chicken Finger Strips, tasty stir-fries, and delicious vegan desserts, such as oatmeal-raisin cookie bars, fudge chocolate brownies, and soy chocolate pudding.
Best New Faux Meat Product
Garden Protein International Inc.
In the last ten years, sales of vegetarian mock meats have skyrocketed. 
They now add up to a billion-dollar-plus industry, as consumers increasingly want to enjoy the flavors they know and love without all the health problems and cruelty associated with animal flesh. Major food corporations ranging from Kraft to Kellogg's are adding mock meat to their offerings, and companies are continuously coming out with new products. Garden Protein International, Inc. has introduced a new line of fantastic vegan mock chicken, beef, and pork. Made of healthy plant protein, each product is packed with nutrients and flavor and is 100 percent vegan and cholesterol-free. Check out our recent Web feature on the company's succulent new Veggie Turkey Breast With Wild Rice and Cranberry Stuffing.
Best Nondairy Ice Cream
Cold Stone Creamery
The dairy industry treats cows horribly, and drinking cow's milk is bad for humans(Harvard's top scientists have repeatedly expressed concern about the link between cow's milk and certain types of cancer). For these reasons, lovers of vegetarian sweets are big fans of Cold Stone Creamery's dairy-free sorbets. Smooth and delicious, Cold Stone's sorbet lineup includes lemon, raspberry, watermelon, and tangerine. You can also request that your world-famous Cold Stone smoothie be made with healthy soy milk instead of cow's milk. There's nothing sweeter than enjoying a delicious treat without hurting a hair on a cow's head!
Best Scientific Advance
University of California at San Diego
Testing drugs and consumer products on animals is increasingly proving to be as unreliable as it is cruel. That's why it was such a great day for both animals and people in need of medical care when Michael Sailor, a professor at the University of California at San Diego, announced the completion of the Smart Petri Dish. The invention allows scientists to test the toxicity of new drugs without using animals and with much more accuracy than outdated animal tests. Sangeeta Bhatia, a professor at MIT who helped test the Smart Petri Dish, explains why animal testing is so unreliable and thus dangerous to people: "This [Smart Petri Dish] is important because we know that the enzymes that metabolize drugs—the P450 family—are very different in animal[s] and humans. This is one of the reasons many drugs clear animal testing but end up toxic in patients." Thanks to UCSD's ingenious invention, humans will receive safer, more effective medical treatment and fewer animals will be tortured and killed in labs.
Best Animal-Friendly Media Outlet
The Weather Channel Companies
The Weather Channel goes all out for its four-legged viewers (well, at least for the guardians of four-legged animals). Weather.com has a "Personal Petcast" in which you can enter information about your canine companion and find out when the weather will be best to take him or her for a nice long walk. The Weather Channel also frequently reminds watchers to make sure animals are inside and safe during bad weather and that people should plan for their animals' safety in case of a natural disaster. And stay tuned to the Weather Channel for an exciting upcoming episode of "Storm Stories" that's all about animals!
Thinking Outside the Box
Jay's Cheesesteak
San Franciscans looking for a hearty sandwich without any cruelty or cholesterol know to head to one of Jay's Cheesesteak's two locations. (Jay's doesn't have a Web site, but click here for more information.) The fine folks at Jay's offer a mouth-watering vegan version of a pepper steak sandwich, made with seitan instead of cow flesh. What's seitan? Jay's has anticipated your question and put a sign in its window explaining this delightful food (a savory meat replacement made of wheat protein—very healthy and very tasty!). Jay's also offers a slew of other creative, delicious vegan sandwiches that are perfect for enjoying with a side of piping-hot garlic fries. With more and more local and national restaurants offering delicious vegetarian options, it's a better time than ever to be an animal-friendly diner!
Best New Companion Animal Product
Premier Pet Products, LLC
Taking an excited pooch who is wearing a traditional collar on a walk can put a strain on both the dog (who gets choked by the collar) and the guardian (who is pulled along). That's why PETA heartily recommends that dog guardians put a harness on their canine friend instead of a collar for walks. A harness gently discourages a dog from pulling by causing the dog's front paws to lift off the ground when she yanks. Our favorite is the Gentle Leader Easy Walk Harness, made by Premier Pet Products. This harness, available from the PETA Catalog, means a more relaxed and comfortable experience for everybody during your dog's favorite activity of the day: a nice, long stroll.
Outstanding Educational Policy
New Jersey Department of Education
The New Jersey Department of Education gets an "A+" in the eyes of animals because the state recently enacted a "dissection choice" policy. This allows morally opposed students to opt out of crude and inhumane experiments on live or dead animals and to choose instead to learn from cutting-edge technology such as interactive computer programs and life-like models. Each year, millions of frogs, cats, and other animals are killed and dismembered in science classrooms. New Jersey's policy allows students to help fight this needless suffering while getting a better educational experience. Let's hope that many other states follow the wise lead of the Garden State!
Best Cruelty-Free Cosmetic Line
The Organic Make-up Company Inc.
The Organic Make-up Company is an animal-loving beauty queen's dream come true. From lip gloss to concealer, this company offers more than 100 vegan products for compassionate shoppers to choose from. It refuses to use animal products or unreliable, cruel animal testing, and its high-quality products get rave reviews from customers all over North America. If all companies had the same kind of commitment to compassion that the Organic Make-up Company has, the world would be a much better place.
Most Vegetarian-Friendly Food Service Distributor
United Natural Foods. Inc.
Any restaurant owner looking to meet the booming demand for vegetarian meals would be wise to give United Natural Food, Inc., a call. The company offers everything that a food service operator or restaurant would need to cater to health-conscious and animal-friendly diners, including soy chicken and vegan mayonnaise. It also offers a variety of vegetarian bases as well as dairy-free ice creams and cheeses. According to the National Restaurant Association, demand for vegetarian entrées is growing rapidly, and that trend is likely to continue to increase as more young people turn to a cruelty-free diet.
Best New Cookbook
Vegan With A Vengeance by Isa Moskowitz
Many vegetarians love mock meats, like delicious meat-free hot dogs, burgers, Riblets, and chicken patties made from healthy plant protein instead of cholesterol-packed flesh. But for those who want tantalizing vegetarian meals without mock meat, the perfect cookbook has arrived. Isa Moskowitz of The Post Punk Kitchen has written Vegan With a Vengeance, an edgy cookbook packed with 150 recipes that are inexpensive to make but provide decadent and delicious meals. Isa's hilarious commentary alone is worth the price of the book. When you buy a copy of Vegan With a Vengeance, be sure to grab a copy of Isa's even newer book, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, as well. Just looking at the photos will make your mouth water!
Outstanding Animal Friendly School
Horace Mann Middle School
As the human animal takes over more and more land through suburban sprawl, other animals are pushed out of their homes and forced to live in closer proximity to humans. The students at Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, Massachusetts, experienced one of the problems brought on by this conflict when Canada geese took up residence on the school's playing fields, covering the grass in droppings. Many golf courses and other businesses have tried to deal with similar situations by killing geese. In addition to being inhumane, killing geese is ineffective, as other geese simply move into the vacated area. The students at Horace Mann wanted to resolve the problem without hurting the birds, so they researched humane techniques to discourage the geese from coming back. Now the schools' fields are periodically sprayed with grape juice concentrate. This concentrate is a taste deterrent to the birds, so they don't want to stick around, and it's safe for the kids. The students at Horace Mann deserve an A+ for their clever and compassionate thinking! For more information on helping wild animals, visit HelpingAnimals.com.
