From http://www.nhaines.com/blog/2017/10/21/winners-ubuntu-1710-free-culture-showcase/

Every new Ubuntu cycle brings many changes, and the arrival of Ubuntu 17.10, the “Artful Aardvark” release, brings more changes than usual. The default desktop has changed to GNOME Shell, with some very thoughtful changes by the desktop team to make it more familiar. And of course, the community wallpapers included with this exciting new release have changed as well!

Every cycle, talented artists around the world create media and release it under licenses that encourage sharing and adaptation. For Ubuntu 17.10, 50 images were submitted to the Ubuntu 17.10 Free Culture Showcase photo pool on Flickr, where all eligible submissions can be found.

Amid the busy development work being done each cycle, a small group of community members votes on their favorites. These anonymous contributors work hard to make the community and software around Ubuntu even better. But this time around I would like to thank two additional contributors who were asked to look at the photo pool and vote. Their ballots held the same weight as each of the others.

The first is Barton George, who works at Dell and leads Product Sputnik, which produces some really nice Ubuntu-based laptops specifically for developers to use. It was nice of him to take some time to review the entries and give his feedback.

The second is Jane Silber, the outgoing CEO of Canonical, who for many years has helped guide Ubuntu and been very generous to the community with her time and energy. She was the first respondent when requests to vote were sent out—no surprise to anyone who saw her dedication firsthand—and I am happy that she was able to take a little time, during her last Ubuntu release as CEO, to recommend a few images.

The results are in, the new release is out, and I’m proud to announce the winning images that are waiting for you right now in Ubuntu 17.10:

A big congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who submitted a wallpaper. You can find these wallpapers (along with dozens of other stunning wallpapers) at the links above, or in your desktop wallpaper list in Ubuntu 17.10.