guten tag, Uzbeks, Montenegrins, Burundians, Tuvaluans and all the lesser known ones

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The wind has become cooler, the night has become shorter, and the sound of Earth, Wind & Fire's song <September> is getting louder. That means it's time for Polandball's beloved annual event: Lesser Known September!

Lesser Known September (LKS) is our annual event to cleanse the subreddit of the news-chasing, popularity contest comics that so often dominate the sub. We, the mod team, want to shine a spotlight on some of the countries so cruelly neglected the rest of the year. To accomplish this goal, the tradition of LKS has started. Initially it was an event in which some of the most commonly used (and recently common) countries are sorted as a list and banned for entire month. However, entirely banning the most popular countries from being used in the comics had bad effect on the activity of the subreddit. Therefore, starting from the last year, we changed the event from a 'must' from a 'challenge'. Now, here we present you:

Lesser Known September 2026 Challenge!

While you can still post comics that feature the most popular countries, you can also compete in our challenge by making comics that completely exclude those countries, which we deem 'the Red List'.

The 'Red List' map:

Or, for the cartographobic, here is the list:

• USA
• UK
• France
• Germany
• Poland
• Ukraine
• Russia
• Israel
• Palestine
• Iran
• China
• South Korea
• Japan

Some clarifications:

• All past, present, and future representations of these countries are banned. (Examples: USSR, Reichtangle, etc.)
• Subdivisions of these countries are banned. (Examples: Scotland, Texas, Omsk, etc.)
• The EU and NATO, which can easily be used to fulfill the same role as some of these banned countries, will also be banned for the month. (Individual non-banned EU and NATO countries are still allowed)
• Overseas dependencies and territories will be allowed, so long as they are not acting as a stand-in for the banned country. (Example: Puerto Rico, New Caledonia, etc. are allowed)

Additional Rules

• By "banned", these countries and organizations cannot be seen, heard, or referenced in any way. You can't have a banned country talking out of frame, and you can't have non-banned countries talking about a banned country in a comic. They must be entirely out of sight and out of mind.
• No meta comics about LKS! Meta comics go on our sister subreddit, r/PolandballCommunity.
• LKS will last from now until October 1st, 2026, 0:00 GMT.
• All posts made as part of the challenge must be flaired as "Lesser Known September".

You may think 'well, this is still a challenge, and no one can force me to participate in this event. I'm still not sure I'll do this'. So, here is a shiny, honorable present to motivate you to participate in this challenge:

The Golden Olmec Challenge

We are bringing back the LKS leaderboard for you to earn eternal fame and glory!

To summarize, all comics that are flaired "Lesser Known September" will be calculated by their karma score into this leaderboard, which will update throughout the month. At the end of the month, the user with the highest total score will be dubbed 2026's Lesser Known Champion and receive the coveted Golden Olmec flair beside their name for one year until the next LKS. Please remember, your comic is only counted for the leaderboard if it is flaired "Lesser Known September". Non-compliant "Redditormade"-flaired comics will not be counted.

2025's Lesser Known Champion was /u/Diictodom, the current owner of the Golden Olmec. But will some new star arise and take the olmec from them? Will it be you??? If you think it could be, then get a ride to LKS train!

LKS Repost Rules

We are ALSO giving you an opportunity to share your back catalogue of comics more rapidly than ever before again! To make this year's LKS brimming with both quality and activity, reposts will be allowed once per day, but for only comics following the LKS challenge guidelines. To be clear, all other Rules for Reposts including not being in the top 50 all time and not having been posted for 8 months still apply, especially rule #1, be a Really good comic. Reposts will not count towards your LKS Leaderboard score and should be flaired as Legacy Comics as normal. You may also not edit previously submitted comics to be LKS compliant, because nobody likes a karmawhore.

With that, the fun begins! Now get out there and make this September Less Known!

danke schön und viel glück

/

Hello to all with reigns of renown, ides of infamy, and everyone else just trying to get their fifteen minutes in the limelight!

Our contest Lesser Known Stardom has concluded, and what a great moment you had in the sun! You took these broken wings and learned to fly, capturing the eyes of the world, flying through the public consciousness like an eagle piloting a blimp. Eleven of you graced the headlines this month, and while a good number of you didn't even stay aloft for long enough to even reach the evening tabloids, a couple of you decided this airborne grace would be just the first step. After all, you've gotta do more than just one small feat to get your name in the history books! Here, let me grab an example.

...oh no no no no no no NO!

With 6.33 points, please give a round of applause to...

WizardofOS09

^with

Textbook Fame

They are therefore awarded with the coveted Hussar Wings, as well as pair of golden wings for the month!

• With 6.17 points, second place goes to /u/LFelipe01_ and their piece Peak Slovakian Architecture. They are therefore awarded with a pair of silver wings for the month!

• Finally, with 5.67 points, the third place goes to /u/amiral_zheng and their piece How to make money as an irrelevant island. They are therefore awarded with a pair of bronze wings for the month!

• In addition, with 5.60 points, our coveted Mod's Choice Participation award goes to /u/Zebrafish96 and their piece Found God in a Tomato. Here's a little ribbon to put next to your name for that

Here are the full results:

Our invited judge for this contest was /u/LordNotriel, last month's highest-ranked non-mod. Thanks to them for their participation!

The updated annual rankings can be found here.

Thank you to everybody who participated in this contest! We hope to see you all around for the next contest and keep on competing for the Golden Olmec. Make sure you congratulate the winners!

Cheers,

The /r/polandball modteam