The Background Bandit
Our beloved trash panda isn’t hunting for food, but for the best works of art to include in their upcoming release. Take note, this is no ordinary version, but a LTS (Long Term Support) edition. The chosen works from the competition will be emblazoned across desktops for the next decade (or longer with Ubuntu Pro).
So… Bust out those paint brushes, sharpen those colored pencils, charge up those drawing tablets and dial in those digital cameras, because it’s Ubuntu Wallpaper Competition season once again!
Categories
As in competitions past, we’ll be collecting the submissions here on the Ubuntu Discourse via this thread. When submitting your artwork, please indicate which category your submission falls under. You can only choose one category per submission.
- Mascot Theme - Artwork that prominently features the mascot for this release. For 26.04 that’s the Resolute Raccoon.
- Digital / Abstract - Artwork created using digital creative tools e.g. Blender, GIMP, Inkscape, Aesprite, etc.
- Photography - High resolution image taken from a conventional or digital camera.
After the submission window closes, members of the community will have a chance to vote on their favorite entries. The top TWO vote earners from each category will be included in the Ubuntu 26.04 Resolute Raccoon!
Competition Rules
If you’d like to join in the wallpaper fun, there are a few other important rules that you need to follow:
- You must own the rights to the image you are submitting, it should be your original work of art.
- The full quality image must be 3840x2160px. PNG and WebP formats are preferable.
- Please ensure you create a high quality image. Avoid image compression artifacts, pixelation, chromatic aberration and noise. Please do not add any watermarks, names or logos. See also these helpful guidelines from GNOME on screen backgrounds.
- The Ubuntu Discourse will automatically compress all posted images. A full resolution submission will be requested of the chosen winners at the conclusion of the competition.
- When posting your image, please include a note that you are licensing the image as CC BY-SA 4.0 or CC BY 4.0 . If you do not specify a license we will assume CC BY-SA 4.0 . By entering the competition you are agreeing to these license terms.
AI Generated Works
We do not currently allow AI generated works to be considered for our wallpaper competitions. Here’s a few reasons why we take that position:
- Many popular AI art generation tools use a license that does not align with those that we have chosen for our competition.
- There are active legal debates on the ownership of AI generated artwork and whether it can or can’t be copyrighted.
- Many popular AI models have been shown to include artwork from artists without their consent. We do not believe this aligns with our community’s values and stated mission.
- If your submission displays hallmarks of AI generation, you may be asked to provide proof of human creation, which may include a request for source project files.
Important Dates
Make sure you put the following dates into your calendar:
December 15th - Submission Window opens.
January 28th - Submission Window closes and Voting Period begins.
February 4th - Voting Period closes and the winners are announced!
Previous Competitions
Not sure where to start? Check out the results from recent wallpaper competitions:
Ubuntu 25.10 Results
Ubuntu 25.04 Results
Resolute for Resolutions
Participating in the Wallpaper Competition is a fun and easy way to contribute to Ubuntu! You don’t need to be an expert artist or a professional photographer to participate. As a great artist once said, “I think there’s an artist hidden at the bottom of every single one of us.”
Make contributing to Ubuntu part of your New Year’s resolution! To learn more ways that you can get involved, check out The Ubuntu Community | Ubuntu
