diff --git a/gga_init.py b/gga_init.py
index cbd7604f7d3b7c90430ee4e184c0ca91a97527c7..becedb2dcb47d0f5de6f0eeaff473b9c093896df 100755
--- a/gga_init.py
+++ b/gga_init.py
@@ -62,12 +62,10 @@ class DeploySpeciesStack(speciesData.SpeciesData):
         # use the default banner instead
         if "banner_path" in self.config.keys():
             if not config["banner_path"] == "" and os.path.isfile(os.path.abspath(config["banner_path"])):
-                try:
-                    logging.info("Custom banner path: %s" % self.config["banner_path"])
-                    shutil.copy(os.path.abspath(self.config["banner_path"]), "%s/banner.png" % self.species_dir)
-                except FileNotFoundError:
-                    logging.warning("Could not copy specified banner (%s), using default banner instead" % self.config["banner_path"])
-                    self.config.pop("banner_path", None)
+                banner_dest_path = os.path.join(self.main_dir,"/banner.png")
+                logging.info("Custom banner path: %s" % self.config["banner_path"])
+                if os.path.isfile(os.path.abspath(config["banner_path"])) != banner_dest_path:
+                    shutil.copy(os.path.abspath(self.config["banner_path"]), banner_dest_path)
             else:
                 logging.debug("Using default banner for Tripal pages")
                 self.config.pop("banner_path", None)