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**BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA (Thursday, November 6, 2025): The Free
Software Foundation (FSF) today announced the winning photo
submissions in the FSF40 Photo Contest held in August.**

Over the course of three weeks, twenty-one images were submitted in
the first ever FSF [photo contest][1], held in honor of the FSF's
[fortieth anniversary][2]. After the submission period closed, the
community [voted][3] to pick the top three photos. These are the
results:

[1]: [link removed]
[2]: [link removed]
[3]: [link removed]

In first place, "[Can We Believe Without the Source Code?][4]" by
Benson Muite; in second place, "[Servers][5]" by datagonerogue; and in
third place "[Operating system testing][6]" by Dragos Pirvu.

[4]: [link removed]
[5]: [link removed]
[6]: [link removed]

"We were very happy to see some of the ways that everyday people use
free software in their work and hobbies," reported FSF's outreach and
communications coordinator Eko K. Owen. "It's always inspiring to see
the hard work of countless developers and over forty years of advocacy
being put to use and enjoyed."

When asked if there was anything to share about the inspiration behind
"Servers," datagonerogue replied with the following:

> *"I never thought I would have my own servers, yet here I am. I
> started self hosting private services on my old laptop two years ago
> and I haven't stopped since. [...] I am building my own
> private services instead of using online services where I risk my
> personal data getting misused or stolen. Managing my own GNU/Linux
> servers has taught me lots of skills that has also helped me in my
> computer science studies."*

"Can We Believe Without the Source Code?" is a political statement,
and shows free software can have both incredibly broad applications,
as does the image by Benson Muite.

There is one more event the FSF will hold to celebrate its fortieth
anniversary. In just a few weeks, on November 21-23, 2025, the FSF
will host its virtual hackathon. The [FSF40 Hackathon][7] will be
centered around important GNU software like Org Mode, GNU Guix, and
GNU Boot, with plenty of tasks for both developers and
non-programmers. This hackathon will also feature some less-known but
remarkable projects, like an interactive platform to learn African
writing systems called Lewa, and Don't track bugs: track valuable
discussions, a tool for helping contributors track bugs, patches,
feature requests, and other valuable discussions shared on mailing
lists. **You can register [here][8] to participate in the virtual
FSF40 hackathon.**

[7]: [link removed]
[8]: [link removed]


## Press Kit

The FSF prepared a [press kit][9] for the fortieth anniversary that
includes a timeline of events, the most important announcements around
the fortieth anniversary, and a short history of the FSF.

[9]: [link removed]


## About the Free Software Foundation

The FSF, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users'
right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs.
The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom)
software — particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux
variants — and free documentation for free software. The FSF also
helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software, and its websites, located at
<[link removed]> and <[link removed]>, are an important
source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's
work can be made at <[link removed]>. The FSF is a remote
organization, incorporated in Massachusetts, US.


## MEDIA CONTACT

Eko K. A. Owen
Outreach and Communications Coordinator
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
<[email protected]>
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