See the 10 finalists chosen for Illinois state flag redesign contest
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Illinois Secretary of State's office has revealed the top 10 finalists to possibly replace the Illinois state flags.
After combing through about 5,000 designs submitted since September, the Illinois Flag Commission, led by Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, chose 10 designs that the public can choose from starting in January.
Starting Jan. 1, people will be able to vote online for either one of the 10 new designs, to keep the current Illinois flag, or for two former flag designs – including the state's 1918 centennial flag, or the 1968 sesquicentennial flag.
The current Illinois flag is simply the state seal on a white background. The bicentennial flag consists of 10 stars on each side of a white and blue banner, with a larger 21st star representing Illinois as the 21st state admitted to the United States. The sesquicentennial flag is a dark blue field, with an orange image of the state in the middle of a white I, surrounded by 20 stars in a circle, and a larger 21st star in the upper right corner.
The new designs range from simply adding red and blue stripes to the current flag to images of Abraham Lincoln to images of the state butterfly or state flower to various depictions of fields of stars and stripes.
Once voting is finished, the commission will report its findings and recommendations to the Illinois General Assembly by April 1. State lawmakers would then vote to either replace the current flag with one of the 10 new designs, keep the current flag, or return to the 1918 or 1968 versions.
All of the flag designs, old and new, are below.
10 Finalists on Scribd
