
-
PHASE 1 - Nominee Submissions
Finished
-
PHASE 2 - Voting Period
Finished
-
PHASE 3 - Winners Announced
Finished
GIMP

Why?
Being a free program, its large number of features places this software almost on a par with Photoshop. If it is still not enough, it can be extended using plug-ins and scripts.
Gimp Free Download

About GIMP

Website: http://www.gimp.org
GIMP or GNU Image Manipulator Program is, as it can be easily guessed by its name, a raster graphics editor. Its original authors were Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis and it was later developed by the GIMP developing team.
GIMP is used to modify images in every thinkable way: retouching, resizing, cropping, montage creation, changing formats and others. It offers a great amount of possibilities. Nowadays it is compatible with every major (and not so major) operating system: Windows, Linux, OS X, Solaris and many more.