CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s time to meet all the cats named Aaloo through Azusa in cleveland.com’s contest to find the Cutest Cat in Greater Cleveland.

With about 3,500 kitties entered in the contest by their sweet owners, cleveland.com is publishing all the pictures over a 5-week period, organized in alphabetical order by the cats’ first names. In the photo gallery above are cats named Aaloo through Azusa.

One photo gallery will be posted daily at cleveland.com/best through March 14. The Top 100 Cutest Cat finalists will be announced on March 15.

The galleries contain one photo of each feline entered in the contest through email or by attending the free photo shoot that was held at cleveland.com’s office in January.

Meanwhile, a five-person selection committee from cleveland.com is pouring over the photos to decide the 100 finalists. From there, readers will determine the Top 10 — as well as the order of the Top 10 finish — through voting in online polls.

Here are key dates in the Cutest Cat contest:

Monday, Feb. 6: Contest begins with daily series of photo galleries of all kitties competing in the contest, published in alphabetical order by cats’ first names.

Tuesday, March 14: Final photo gallery publishes.

Wednesday, March 15: The 100 Cutest Cat finalists are announced, along with an online poll to determine the Top 10. Readers will be able to vote for their favorite in a poll on cleveland.com.

Wednesday, March 22: Top 10 winners from the online poll are announced. New poll begins to decide overall winner and order of Top 10 finish. For the Top 10, 80 percent will be based on the online poll, 10 percent will be based on voting by a celebrity/cat expert panel, and 10 percent will be based on voting by a panel of children judges.

Friday, March 31: Winner of Cutest Cat contest announced, along with the order of the Top 10 finish.

Note: Throughout Febrary and March we will also publish special category winners such as the cats with the Prettiest Eyes, Best Mustaches and Cats We Most Want to Cuddle With.

Look for lots more content throughout the contest at cleveland.com/best, including videos and features.

Remember, if you don’t see your cat pictured yet please be patient and watch for the alphabetical galleries to roll out daily through March 14.

Notable: To be eligible for the Top 10, the cat must reside in Northeast Ohio (Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina, Summit, Portage, Lake and Geauga counties).

Note to dog lovers: cleveland.com will once again conduct a contest to find the Cutest Dog in Northeast Ohio. It will be conducted during the summertime. More details will be announced at cleveland.com/best in the coming months.

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