Flag Forward

Voting for the new Illinois state flag is now open. Choose from 13 designs.

Abhay Chandran, Audience Engagement Editor

January 14, 2025

Illinois could soon get a new state flag. Voting is now open for Illinois residents to select from one of 13 designs. Ten new designs were selected by the Illinois flag commission from nearly 5,000 submissions for the state flag redesign contest. The other three flags are the current state flag, the flag’s centennial design, and the design made to celebrate Illinois’s 150th anniversary.

The prospect of a redesigned flag was put into motion when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law creating the Illinois Flag Commission to help decide what the state flag should represent and to help select a flag that exemplifies the values of Illinois and its people.

History of the Illinois flag:

Illinois became the 21st state in 1818, but the first official flag — the Great Seal of Illinois on a plain white background — was established in 1915 after winning a similar design contest.

The state’s second and current flag was created in 1969, when, due to concerns about the flag’s recognizability, the word “Illinois” was included under the seal.

Three existing flag design options

1. Original state flag:
The flag consists of the Illinois state seal at the center of a white background with the word Illinois underneath in dark blue text.

Abhay’s takes: This flag was unrecognizable before they added the text “Illinois” below the state seal, and that really speaks to how visually boring the design still is.

2. Centennial flag:
This flag was first made to celebrate the state’s 100th anniversary and consists of 10 stars above and below a blue stripe with a larger 21st star to represent Illinois as the 21st state.

Abhay’s takes: This flag is better than the current state flag visually, but similarly feels detached from the state itself. This flag’s connection to Illinois is the number 21, which feels very uninspired.

3. Sesquicentennial Flag:

This flag was first made to celebrate the state’s 150th anniversary. The center of the flag contains a large “I” with the state’s outline inside, both of which are surrounded by 20 stars and a larger 21st star to represent Illinois as the 21st state.

Abhay’s takes: This flag doesn’t feel very creative, but it does contain symbols that explicitly make it unique to Illinois, and it does have a color palette that makes it somewhat interesting to look at, so it’s a functional flag.

Flag photo credits: https://www.ilsos.gov/special/IFC/10finalists.pdf

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