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The Alaska State Flag

More than 30 years before Alaska was to become a state, the Alaska Department of the American Legionsponsored a territorial contest for Alaska children in grades seven through twelve. A flag was needed to represent thefuture state of Alaska and somebody thought it would be a good idea to tap into the creativity of these kids.

Contest rules were circulated throughout the Alaska Territory in January, 1927. The rules stipulatedthat the first stage of the competition would take place at a local level. Each town would set up a panel of judges thatwould determine the ten best local designs and forward these to Juneau where the final competition would take place. Atotal of 142 designs were forwarded to Juneau.

Several interesting concepts were represented, and eventually rejected, in the submissions reviewed bythe Juneau Flag Committee. All of these concepts were rejected as too specific to one or another certain aspect of thevast Alaska Territory. A couple of designs centered around Polar Bears. One design displayed a Polar Bear on an iceberg.Another had a Polar Bear balancing at the top of the globe. Others depicted imagery representing the fishing and miningindustries of Alaska. About 1/3 of the entries centered around the territorial seal.

Courtesy:Alaska State Museums

The winner of the contest was a seventh grade Aleut student, thirteen year old John Bell (Benny) Bensonfrom Chignik. He was living in an orphanage in Seward, the Jesse Lee Mission Home, at the time of the contest.

He designed the present Alaska State Flag with a blue background to represent the sky and theForget-me-not flower. On that background were placed eight gold stars to represent the Big Dipper and the North Star. TheBig Dipper forms part of the constellation Ursa Major or Great Bear; symbolizing strength.*   The North Starrepresents the future state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. Benny's simple, elegant design was adopted by theAlaska Territorial Legislature in May, 1927.

For his efforts, Benny received first prize, a gold watch that was engraved with his flag design. Inaddition, the Alaska Legislature awarded Benny $1,000 toward a trip to Washington, D.C. to present the Alaska Flag toPresident Calvin Coolidge. Unfortunately, the trip to Washington never took place due to prior commitments of thePresident. Though Benny never made it to Washington, his territorial flag became the Official "State" Flag when Alaskajoined the Union in 1959. The Alaska Legislature decided to apply Benny's award of $1,000 to his education. Benny choseto study diesel mechanics.