Nebraska Senator Burke Harr looks for new state flag via crowdsourcing

Nebraska is in desperate need of a new flag, and Senator Burke Harr is crowdsourcing ideas for its redesign.

There have been several red flags indicating the current design isn’t exactly memorable. Nebraska’s state flag was ranked the second worst flag in the U.S. and Canada on two separate lists, and it recently flew upside down over the state capitol without anyone noticing --- for ten straight days.

The solution? Senator Harr is taking online submissions for a new state flag design.

Harr put out a call Monday to the online creative community Skillshare asking artists to create a new state flag. There have already been a few submissions, and Harr will judge the designs himself before passing the best ones along to Nebraskan officials as potential candidates.

Harr is hoping to have a design underway in time for the state's 150th anniversary this year.

A blog post on Skillshare about the flag design competition comes with a little inspiration for artists, including guidelines on creating flags from the North American Vexillological Association. Flags should be fairly simple: no seals, easy enough for a child to draw from memory, maximum of three colors, etc.

“The Nebraska flag breaks almost every one of those rules,” a representative from Harr’s office, Jamison Wyatt, commented.

In its current form, the flag is the state seal emblazoned in gold and silver over a blue background. Designed in 1921 by Florence Hazen Miller, the flag features a steamboat in the Missouri River, a train heading toward the Rocky Mountains, and a blacksmith at his anvil.

Harr told the Omaha World Herald that the flag doesn’t stand out or represent a modern Nebraska.

Crowdsourcing ideas from the public doesn’t always go smoothly, as the British government learned last year when people voted to name a $300 million research vessel Boaty McBoatface.

Hopefully, Nebraska will have better luck.