It's that time of year again when dogs with unusually large heads, hairless bodies and other oddities compete to be the World's Ugliest Dog. This year's winner? A 2-year-old mutt named Peanut, whose wild white and brown hair, bulging eyes and protruding teeth belie his sweet, energetic personality. Peanut's owner, Holly Chandler of Greenville, North Carolina, says he was seriously burned as a puppy and she wants to use her pet to raise awareness about animal abuse. She plans to use the $1,500 prize to pay for other animals' veterinary bills. The contest, held at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, California, is in its 26 year. The dogs are scored by a three-judge panel in several categories, including special or unusual attributes, personality and natural ugliness.

A beluga whale sprays water towards visitors during a summer attraction at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo on July 20, 2015. Tokyo's temperature climbed over 34 degree Celsius on July 20, one day after the end of the rainy season. (Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP Photo)

A model presents a creation by Japanese designer Yoshikazu Yamagata for his label writtenafterwards during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Tokyo, Japan, 16 March 2016. The presentation of the Autumn/Winter 2016 collections runs from 14 to 19 March. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/EPA)

Buddhist monk Wilatha holds a rescued Burmese python at his monastery that has turned into a snake sanctuary on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, November 26, 2020. Wilatha is trying to play a part in saving scores of snakes that might otherwise be killed or destined for the black market. (Photo by Shwe Paw Mya Tin/Reuters)

A young male fiddler crab is dwarfed by an older male of the same species, looming behind it at Morua estuary, in the Gulf of California, Mexico on January 4, 2022. Whereas female fiddler crabs have small claws of equal sizes, the males’ pincers can vary in size, with the small one used to pick up food and the larger to impress females. (Photo by Claudio Contreras/Solent News)

A four-month-old snow fox cub named “Vesna” (“Spring”) leaps next to a Zoo employee at the Royev Ruchey Zoo in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on August 6, 2013. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

The competition, which is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine, is now in its sixth year and has received over 2,500 entries. Photo: Centre of the Heart Nebula by Ivan Eder (Hungary). Situated 7500 light years away in the “W”-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia, the Heart Nebula is a vast region of glowing gas, energized by a cluster of young stars at its centre. The image depicts the central region, where dust clouds are being eroded and moulded into rugged shapes by the searing cosmic radiation. (Photo by Ivan Eder)

Women dressed in folk costumes take part in a traditional wedding ceremony in the village of Galicnik, west of Macedonia's capital Skopje, July 12, 2014. The Galicnik Wedding, a three-day traditional Macedonian wedding celebration held each “Petrovden” or St. Peter's Day, involves traditional customs, costumes, and rituals and dances that have been passed down over the centuries. (Photo by Ognen Teofilovski/Reuters)