Residents of the southwest have been voting daily for the past week on their favorite southwestern Saskatchewan critter in our annual Christmas Critters contest on Swift Current Online. 

With over a hundred submissions this year many furry four-legged friends were vying for votes. 

This morning we announced that "Vern" was our lucky winner receiving the most votes out of the 400 that came in. 

Vern's owner Heather Bender was excited to receive the winning phone call this morning telling us that Vern is the newest member of their family and she was rescued from a farm litter of kittens. 

Bender had many reasons to be proud, not only of Vern for winning but her daughter also took the winning photograph. 

As the submission with the most votes, Vern and Bender have won themselves a gift basket courtesy of this year's Christmas Critters sponsor Flaman Ag.