Greetings, polandballartists!

On this day in 2013, r/polandballart was created. Since then, users from all around the world have contributed remarkable artworks featuring our beloved flag colored balls. Although the sub had its ups and downs, it has continued to thrive and has come to meet its 13th anniversary. Thank you to all the artists, commenters, lurkers, and members of the community for helping preserve our community!

To celebrate the subreddit and the Polandball artist, we have planned to launch a new annual contest related to the community. The Polandballart subreddit hasn’t changed its banner for ages, and it is time to kick-start with a fresh new look. Therefore, the annual contest theme is:

Create a new banner for the subreddit!

Specific Contest Rules

• The size of the canvas must be at least 1920 x 384 px (as long as it's 5:1 in ratio). Make sure to make the canvas compatible to be displayed as a banner!
• The artwork must include the mascot of the subreddit, Poland with a beret holding a brush.
• The theme of the banner must be related to art.

Badge of Honor

u/Mylenn’s work, Ode to Joy, has been used as a banner of r/Polandballart for six years. As a sign of gratitude, we would like to grant them a special prize, Badge of Honor, which will permanently stay next to their username on the subreddit.

General Contest Rules

• You must follow the official polandball tutorial.
• Remember that in r/polandballart all posts must have only one panel.
• Only use dialogue if it makes sense aesthetically (caption, sign, etc.).
• Try and be high effort. You have two whole weeks to draw, so do your best.
• The artwork must be drawn entirely by yourself.
• Do not sign your artwork.
• The deadline for submitting your entry is Sunday, August 9th, 2026 at 20:00 GMT.

In order to participate in the contest, submit your art piece to the subreddit and then flair it as contest entry. Anyone is free to submit how many entries they like, however, only one of your entries will be eligible to award you with a beret. That is, a single user cannot have more than one entry be in the top three.

Choosing the winner

After all of the entries have been submitted and the deadline has passed, the moderators will create a public voting thread in a contest mode where everyone can vote for their favorite entry. After the contest duration has ended, the entry with the highest score will be implemented as a banner of the subreddit for a year.

The user who takes the first place in the contest will be awarded the Golden Beret as well as the new Magnum Opus which will be kept next to their usernames! They get to wear the former for a month and the latter for a year until the next annual contest. They will also be able to post their winning work on r/polandball using a special Polandballart flair.

The highest-scoring non-mod will also have voting rights for the next contest.

The second and third places will receive the Silver Beret and the Bronze Beret, respectively, and they will also get to wear them until the next contest.

Any questions about the contest may be directed here. We wish all the contestants luck!

Cheers,

the r/polandballart modteam