The city of Columbia is one step closer to selecting its first new city flag design in over a century after online voting on the final 19 designs closed Monday.
After submission and review of initial designs for the new city flag, the final 18 absorbed weeks of input online. Lee Snelgrove, board member of the Columbia Design League (CDL) and executive director of One Columbia for Arts and History, said the winning design should be officially adopted by the city before the end of 2017.
The idea for a redesign began with a September presentation by Ted Kaye of the Portland (Maine) Flag Association. As a vexillologist, or one that studies the symbolism and usage of flags, Kaye measured the Columbia city flag against the North American Vexillogical Association's (NAVA) principles for good flag design.
The NAVA's principles of good flag design include simplicity to the point of being able to draw the flag from memory, employment of symbolism meaningful to the body the flag represents, use of three or fewer colors and a lack of a seal or lettering. According to Snelgrove, Kaye's presentation pointed out that the current flag violated each of these four principles.
In use since 1912, the current city flag features a multicolored variation of the city seal flanked by corn and cotton crops in the middle of a blue rectangle. A 2004 online survey held by the NAVA placed Columbia's flag 85th out of 150 American city flags with a score of 3.83 out of 10.
"The symbolism is dated as corn and cotton aren't specifically associated with the city much these days," Snelgrove said.
According to Snelgrove, over 540 designs were submitted. After the field was narrowed down to 19 by the NAVA last month, voters gave online feedback to the finalists before voting closed Monday. Experts convened by the CDL will now review public feedback before recommending a design for adoption as the official Columbia city flag.
The designer of the flag recommended by the CDL will receive a $2,000 prize the Columbia Design League in conjunction with the Columbia Flag & Sign Company. The proposed flag will be presented to Mayor Steve Benjamin and the Columbia City Council for adoption this fall.