The Seward Gateway Newspaper announced the competition for the Alaska State Flag on December 31st, 1926. It began earler in 1926 when George Parks, Governor of the territory of Alaska, called on the Postmaster General in Washington DC. The governor noted the rotunda of the Federal Post Office Building featured a spectacular dislay of flags of all the states and territories except Alaaska.
On his return to Alaska, GovernorParks met with the American Legion and suggested that they sponsor a contest, through the schools, for the creation of an official Alaskan flag.
By January of 1927 the rules had been sent out.
In each town, a local board of judges was set up. This group was to choose the ten best designs and forward them to the Department Adjutant in Juneau by March 1st 1927 for submission to the Final Award’s Committee. The contest was in open to all schools, public and private for students enrolled in the seventh through the twelfth grades.
Designs came in from all over the territory. The Legislature was invited to appoint two members from each House to sit with the three members of the the American Legion. These members comprised tht Final Award’s Committee.
When the decision was made the paper's headline read LOCAL POST AWARD FOR DESIGN OF TERRITORIAL FLAG... the article went on to read "On Tuesday evening at the Seward Grill the Seward Post of the American Legion held one of the largest and most interesting meetings of the post for some time. The principal business of the evening was the installation of the officers for the ensuing year and the initiation of two members. The new members were Jasper Holman and Bob Evans....
The Post voted to award prizes of $5.00, $3.00 and $2.00 for the best design for a territorial flag submitted by the schools in the jurisdiction of the Post.
After refreshments were served short talks were given by the new and retiring officers. All members present agreed that it was the best meeting of the post for a long time and are confident that the coming year will be a banner year for the Seward Post."
The winner of the competition for The Alaska state flag was Benny Benson, a thirteen year-old in the Jesse Lee Orphanage in Seward, Alaska. Benny’s design was created in response to the contest sponsored by the Alaska Department of the American Legion and supported by Post 5. There were 142 designs submitted across the state, with the winning design by thirteen-year old Benny Benson. The flag was adopted by the Territorial Legislature in May, 1927 and remains as Alaska's official flag.
On his design submission, Benny had also written some words of explanation:
“The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaska flower. The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear – symbolizing strenth (sic).”
Benny's original entry is housed in the Alaska State Museum collection.
The flag is dark blue, with eight five-pointed gold stars in the shape of "the Big Dipper" and a slightly larger gold star representing the pole star, Polaris. The star representing Polaris on the state flag is shown larger than the seven stars that make up the "Big Dipper."
Through the Flag Act found in Alaska House Bill 91, $1,000 had been appropriated to fly Benny Benson to Washington DC to present a Flag to President Coolidge and another $1,000 was to fly him to the Paris Convention; however since satisfactory arrangements could not be made to meet with the president, the Flag Act was modified so that Benny could use the money for his education.
On July 9th, 1927, the unfurling of the Alaska Flag for the first time occurred at the dedication of the Jesse Lee Home at Seward. 4pm on Saturday, the official flag of Alaska was flung to the breezes for the first time on the Jesse Lee flag pole.
The Alaska Flag made it to Paris and was escorted to the Paris Convention in 1927. The Seward Gateway newspaper reported that "HJ Thompson (Alaska Department of France Convention Officer)of Juneau left on his way to France as head of the French Convention Department from Alaska, taking with him the recently adopted flag of Alaska. He will meet his wife in New York where she has been visiting for the last month and she will accompany him to Paris." The Alaskan contingent to Paris was 31 Legionnaires from Alaska.
Benny Benson’s original submission for the Alaska flag design competition. ASL-MS14-1, American Legion, Designs by School Children for Alaska’s Flag, Alaska State Library-Historical Collections. Photo courtesy Alaska State Library-Photo Collection
