This year Big Red will be competing once again in an online mascot challenge sponsored by Capital One. Big Red started entering this competition in 2002, and this will be the tenth time Big Red has participated.

The annual competition includes 16 mascots from other universities. To get into the competition, a university has to submit a form online and a short video of its mascot doing their signature moves and interacting with fans. 

The routine has to be roughly two or three minutes, and WKU gets help with that from other sources. 

“It’s not our expertise,” Marketing Assistant Paula Davids said.

Davids also holds the title of being Big Red’s “mom.”

Along with coming up with a routine, the universities have to post their video online. Big Red’s video is found on YouTube under the account WKUSports.

Big Red has never won first place in this competition. The closest he’s ever gotten to the top spot was fourth place.

“It’s really hard to compete with bigger schools because their fan base and alumni is large,” Davids said. 

The competition is not all up to the mascot. Students and alumni must participate. 

Each week the website posts new challenges to support their mascot. Votes are earned through points. There is a 100 point challenge, a 50 point challenge and a 1 point challenge.

The 100 point challenge requires voters to submit a photo or video to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook of a specific action, such as executing the mascot’s dance move. 

Capital One judges will review the submissions and give the 100 points to their school’s mascot. The 50 point challenge is done through sharing mascot pride on Twitter or Facebook, and one point is awarded for clicking a “vote now” button on the website. The prize for winning the challenge is $20,000. 

Even if Big Red doesn’t win, WKU still receives $5,000 from Capital One for entering in the challenge to go toward the mascot program.

To vote in the competition, go to capitalonemascots.com. The competition will run through the week of Nov. 10.