The picture of the day (POTD) is a section on the English Wikipedia's Main Page that is automatically updated every day with one or more featured pictures, accompanied by a blurb. Although it is generally scheduled and edited by a small group of regular editors, anyone can contribute. If you have concerns about today's or tomorrow's POTDs, please place a message at Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. If you have concerns about other upcoming POTDs, consider either fixing it yourself or placing a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day.

Today's featured picture

Ernest Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. He and three companions established a new record Farthest South latitude, 112 miles (180 km) from the South Pole, as part of the Nimrod Expedition of 1907–1909; Shackleton was knighted on his return home. He planned the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 but his ship, Endurance, became trapped in pack ice and then sank on 21 November 1915. The crew escaped and used the lifeboats to reach Elephant Island and ultimately the island of South Georgia in a stormy ocean voyage of more than 700 nautical miles (800 mi; 1,300 km), Shackleton's most famous exploit. He returned to the Antarctic in 1921 with the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition but died of a heart attack on South Georgia, where he was buried at his wife's request. This photograph of Shackleton was taken by George Charles Beresford before 1909. Photograph credit: George Charles Beresford; restored by Adam Cuerden Recently featured: Pomegranate Jadeite Cabbage Charles Darwin Archive More featured pictures

• The picture must already be a featured picture. To nominate a picture to be featured, see Featured picture candidates.
• Featured pictures are currently selected in roughly the order in which they were promoted (i.e. a first in, first out order). See the category of featured pictures that have not appeared on the Main Page for this order. Exceptions are made for birthdays, anniversaries of events, national holidays or other occasions worth commemorating.
• Linked articles must be up to scratch – at a minimum, the article should not be a stub, and the image used must appear in the article.
• All facts mentioned in the blurb must be found in the target article, or in the description linked to the image itself (if it's a specific detail not relevant to the article topic).
• All facts used in the blurb must have a citation to a reliable source, either in the linked article or in the image description page.
• Not all featured pictures will appear as the picture of the day. Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Unused has a list of those that have been skipped.

You can insert the picture of the day on your user page or talk page by adding the text {{Pic of the day}}. It will be displayed in a box of no more than 600 pixels wide and will include the blurb associated with the picture. A version without text is also available via {{POTD}}.

It is also possible to create your own custom POTD layouts, in case you do not wish to use the existing versions. Mix and match the following components to make your own. This system will only work for pictures of the day beginning January 1, 2007. Be sure to replace [date] with an appropriate date value. For a dynamically updating version, use {{#time:Y-m-d}} (example: {{POTD/{{#time:Y-m-d}}|image}}).

There are two additional predefined layouts:

• {{POTD/{{#time:Y-m-d}}|column}}: This has the image and caption above each other with no borders. Used on some of the Main Page alternatives and also suitable for user pages.
• {{POTD/{{#time:Y-m-d}}|row}}: This has the image and caption encapsulated in (usually) a single table row. This is the version used on the current Main Page.

It is also possible to permanently feature a POTD for a selected day. Just add a specific value for the date you want. For example, today's picture of the day is {{POTD/2025-02-15|image}}. Likewise, you can use date parameters with the other templates as well. If you like the pre-made formats, you can use date parameters there as well, like this: {{Pic of the day|date=2025-02-15}} or {{POTD|date=2025-02-15}}. Again, this system will only work for pictures of the day beginning January 1, 2007.

Code	Result
{{User:CFeyecare/templates/POTD}}	This user enjoys the Picture of the Day.¤	Usage

Use {{User:My Chemistry romantic/Templates/Random POTD}} to display a randomly selected picture of the day.

{{User:Tyw7/picofday}} also displays a randomly selected POTD, but without the header and footer.

When you want to display the picture of the day like an ordinary thumbnail, similar to {{WP:Wikimedia Commons/POTD}}, you can use {{POTD Wikipedia}}. For instance, if you want a thumbnailed version, floated right, you can use {{POTD Wikipedia|float=right|title=yes|thumb=yes}}.

If you want to permanently include a POTD that was selected between November 1, 2004 and December 31, 2006, use the following: {{Wikipedia:Picture of the day/[month] [day], [year]}} or {{Wikipedia:POTD/[month] [day], [year]}}. For example, {{Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 31, 2006}}.

Pictures of the day selected from May 2004 through October 2004 are only accessible in month-at-a-time archives (see below) and can only be placed on user pages by using standard image syntax.