Meet our Hambone Award nominees!

Every year, Nationwide® receives millions of pet insurance claims for everything from the mundane to the truly unusual.

Nationwide created the Hambone Award® to honor the strangest, most hair-raising pet insurance claim of the year. Each story we highlight is meant to exemplify the strength of our pets and their pet parents, and to spotlight the amazing skills of their trusted veterinarians.

It’s also a way to highlight all the things that can happen—and have happened—and the importance of being prepared. This year, our team searched through more than 3 million claims to find our nominees.

Why is it called the “Hambone” Award?

The Hambone Award is named in honor of a Nationwide-insured dog who got stuck in a refrigerator and ate an entire holiday ham while waiting for someone to find him. The dog was eventually found, with a licked-clean ham bone and a mild case of hypothermia.

Since then, we’ve awarded the grand prize to twelve pets, including a canyon-diving German shepherd, a rock-pooping pug and many others.

How to vote

Voting for the Hambone Award winner is open to the public and takes place October 4-17. You can cast one vote per day for your favorite nominee until voting closes. Winner to be announced on October 19th.