Anybody with an concept for a way the Maine state flag ought to look has a month to submit a design concept, although the competition guidelines restrict simply how a lot of a inventive free-for-all will probably be allowed.
Maine lawmakers agreed final 12 months to let voters determine in the event that they wish to undertake a brand new state flag design that may be extra distinctive than the present one, which has a blue background and the state seal, a person standing on both sides of a protect that reveals a moose resting beneath a pine tree.
The state seal in the course of the blue background mixture is just like the look of flags in a minimum of a dozen different states.
The Maine secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, introduced on Friday a contest to find out which design could be used because the mannequin forward of a November referendum on a brand new flag.
Ms. Bellows stated in an announcement that selecting the design “is just not a job I can do alone.”
“That’s why right now I invite each Mainer to contemplate submitting a design for consideration,” she stated. The design guidelines enable submissions to return from outdoors of Maine.
Governments have let the general public create and vote on designs for civic symbols, together with birds, license plates and flags.
In 2022, Ulster County, N.Y., adopted an “I voted” sticker that featured a pink and turquoise creature with a bloodshot stare after it was submitted by a youngster in a contest.
The Maine flag contest doesn’t invite such a large spectrum of inventive expression, nevertheless.
The design temporary offers strict standards, together with that the background of the flag have to be coloured “buff,” a light-weight yellowish brown, and the flag ought to be “so easy {that a} youngster can draw it from reminiscence.”
It should even have a pine tree within the middle and a blue five-pointed North Star within the higher nook, the temporary stated.
An advisory committee will choose 5 designs from the submissions pool to current to Ms. Bellows, who will select a design to function a mannequin for the brand new state flag forward of the November election.
The competition guidelines specify that the design must be an authentic work and never generated by synthetic intelligence. The competition winner is not going to be compensated and the design may be modified by the secretary of state.
There aren’t any age minimums for who can create the design however entries created by youngsters and youngsters beneath 18 have to be submitted by a dad or mum or authorized guardian.
Submissions are due by 5 p.m. on July 19.
Maine residents and lawmakers have for years debated altering the flag, which employs a widespread state flag design. Two states that beforehand used that design, Utah and Minnesota, formally adopted extra distinctive flags this 12 months.
Maine lawmakers determined final 12 months to let residents vote on changing the present flag with a design just like the look of Maine’s first state flag, which was used from 1901 to 1909.
In current months, the flag debate in Maine has been charged by revelations in regards to the show of flags with political connotations at properties belonging to Supreme Courtroom Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
The 1901 Maine flag has a pine tree within the middle, which makes it resemble the “Enchantment to Heaven” flag, which was used in the course of the Revolutionary Warfare however has in recent times been tied to a push to remake the American authorities in Christian phrases. The “Enchantment to Heaven” flag was carried by rioters on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The New York Instances revealed final month that the “Enchantment to Heaven” flag was flown outdoors Justice Alito’s trip home in New Jersey final summer time. Justice Alito stated in a letter to lawmakers that he was conscious of the flag however he was not accustomed to the flag’s which means and that it had been raised by his spouse, Martha-Ann Alito.
Ms. Bellows instructed The Portland Press Herald that her workplace had obtained questions after The Instances report on Justice Alito, however the debate doesn’t change the flag voting plans.
“No matter course of and design we put ahead will probably be based mostly on Maine historical past,” she stated.
