Remember coloring competitions as a kid? They’re back for grown-ups
The fresh page, the careful choice of colors and the wait to hear who won. How the coloring competition works for adults now: a free daily challenge, the same page for everyone and judging with the names hidden.
You might remember how it went. A picture to color turned up somewhere, on a flyer, in the paper or on the back of a box, and suddenly the whole evening was about it. You lined the pencils up, picked a color for the sky that nobody else would think of, went slowly round the edges, and handed it in with your name at the bottom. Then came the waiting.
You may not remember who won. What tends to stick is the choosing, the care, and the strange thrill of knowing a lot of other people were coloring exactly the same picture.
Why did coloring competitions feel so good?
Because everyone started level. Nobody had to draw anything, so nobody was "bad at art" before they began. The outlines were the same for every entry, and the only thing that could make yours different was you: the colors you picked, where you were patient and where you were brave.
That's still the interesting part. Give a hundred people the same page and you'll get a hundred different pictures, which is something a blank sheet of paper can never show you.
Why are so many adults coloring again?
Coloring is having a moment. In Australia, two of the ten bestselling books of 2025 were adult coloring books, according to The Conversation, and cozy coloring books have become a trend of their own on BookTok, where people share their favorite finished pages. The book trade has noticed too: Books+Publishing reported coloring books near the top of the country's bestseller lists alongside romance and children's fiction.
The appeal hasn't changed much since childhood. The lines are already there, so the page asks for attention without asking for talent. Your hands have something absorbing to do, and for a while your head goes quiet. We wrote more about that in why adults color.
What happened to the competition part?
Somewhere along the way it fell off. Adult coloring is mostly a solo hobby: you finish a page, maybe post a photo, and start the next one. That's lovely, but it misses the bit many of us remember best, the moment your page sits next to everyone else's.
“Most of us remember entering a coloring competition as a kid. You’d spend ages choosing your colors, trying to stay inside the lines and hoping yours would be picked. Somewhere along the way we grew out of the competitions, but we never really grew out of coloring. We wanted to bring that feeling back.” Ashley Rowe, co-founder of Alt Dev Apps, which makes PencilDrop
How does a coloring competition for adults work?
PencilDrop is our version, built for people 16 and over. Every day there's a new page, the same one for everyone, with a bigger scene each week and a showpiece each month. You color it on your phone or tablet: tap a shape to fill it, or work it up by hand with pencil, marker, crayon or airbrush. Every shape is mapped before the page goes out, so your color stays inside the lines without you having to fight for it.
When you're happy with your page, you enter it, and entering is always free. If you'd rather keep a page to yourself, that's fine too.
Same outlines, two very different birds. Both are finished pages, and either would make a fine entry.
Who picks the winners?
Other people do, two pages at a time. Judges see a pair of entries from the same competition side by side with the names hidden, and choose the one they like more. We choose the pairs so every entry gets seen, and votes from people who colored the same page count for a little more, because they know exactly how tricky that sky was. There are no likes and no follower counts, so a first-timer's page can beat a regular's.
When judging closes, the results go up on the global and country leaderboards, and the top three of every competition land on the winners' page with a time-lapse of how they were colored. If you're curious about the details, how judging works goes through them.
How do I enter my first coloring competition?
Get the app, open today's page and color it however you like. A first page can take ten minutes; there's no rule against spending the evening on it. Enter it, judge a few pairs from other people while you wait, and come back when the results are in. You'll earn a little Ink along the way, to spend on new palettes and extras in the app.
If you'd like to warm up on paper first, past pages are on our free coloring pages, ready to print. Then get PencilDrop and try today's page. Everyone else is coloring it too.
These are our own examples of what a page can become, each colored to a written color plan. They aren’t competition entries.
Quick answers
Are there coloring competitions for adults?
Yes. PencilDrop runs free coloring competitions for people 16 and over: a new page every day, a bigger one each week and a showpiece each month, with everyone coloring the same page and other people judging the entries with the names hidden.
Is it free to enter an online coloring competition on PencilDrop?
Yes. The app is free to start and every competition is free to enter. Prizes are digital, such as palettes, frames, badges and Ink, and have no cash value.
Do I need to be good at art to enter?
No. The outlines are already drawn, and a tap fills a shape with color, so a finished page can take a few minutes. Judges pick the page they like more, and a first-timer’s page can beat a regular’s.
