It's no question that cats are the darlings of the Internet. They've been featured in countless memes, and have starred in numerous viral videos. In fact, cats have been entertaining the people of the web for several years now, it's actually quite surprising is that the Internet doesn't have a special awards show for cat videos.

Until now. Get a load of The Friskies-a special award show specifically for cat videos. Hey if movies have the Oscars and TV has the Emmys, then adorable cat films must be honored as well, right?

The contest, which is sponsored by (you guessed it) Friskies, will award a grand prize of $15,000 plus a year's worth of Friskies cat food to the winning original cat video submission.

Friskies Mechanics

To enter, simply submit your video using the Friskies online form here. Cat videos will fall under one of four categories, namely: Cat Behavior (Catness), Cat Comedy (Catcom), Indoor Cat Adventure (Catventure), and Miscellaneous (Catchall).

Each category winner will take home $2,500, and the overall winner will get to take home 15 grand. The deadline for video submissions is on October 12, so get those cute videos in as soon as you can!

The Friskies isn't just entertaining though; it's for a good cause as well. According to the site, "as a critical part of "The Friskies" cat video contest, every way you engage with the effort ("sharing content," "likes," commenting, voting, submitting original videos on the Friskies® Facebook page) counts toward feeding cats at 25 rescue shelters across the U.S."

The company initially pledged to donate 125,000 cans of Friskies, but viewers can increase that number. "Each time someone enters the contest, votes, or likes or shares a video, five additional cans of Friskies® cat food will be donated, up to a total of 250,000 cans. You may not make or enter a video, but you can still make a difference."

Voting

All the cat video submissions will go through 2 rounds of voting. In round 1, entries will be viewed and rated by a panel of judges who will evaluate each video according originality (25%), cinematography (15%), audience appeal (15%), portraying of cat playfulness (15%), sense that there's a story being told (15%), and portraying the cat's perspective (15%). According to the official rules, "up to three (3) highest scoring Entrants in each of the four categories will be declared potential finalists ("Finalists"), subject to verification, and will be notified on or before October 22, 2012."

Regular viewers will then have a say when Round 2 comes along. At this stage, Friskies will announce the finalists on their official website as well as their social media pages, and the public will then be given a chance to vote. The public's vote counts as 40% of the final score, while the judges' scores will account for 60%.

And The Friskies Goes To...

...You're cat? Hey, you never know. If you have an adorable kitten in your home or if you know someone who does, be sure to participate in this awesome event. Not only is it for a good cause, but you could end up getting some serious cash (and cat food) in the process!