Celebrate the Jackson-Madison County Bicentennial by designing the city's new flag
Want to leave your mark on the city of Jackson? Now is your chance—the City of Jackson is still accepting submissions for the Flag Design Contest, allowing residents to redesign the city’s official flag and be remembered for decades to come.
The contest, which is part of the Jackson-Madison County Bicentennial celebration, is open to anyone currently living in Jackson.
“We’re really excited about this,” said Lizzie Emmons, executive director of the Jackson Arts Council. “We’re really excited to see the artists in our community come up with a flag design. We want the whole city to participate!”
The current flag has been in commission for over 50 years, and Emmons said the city is looking for a “more modern” look to help the city celebrate as it enters its next century.
“Opportunities like this don’t come very often,” she said. “We’ve had our flag design for a very long time, so we’re really excited to update it and modernize it, and really have it as a symbol of the city of Jackson that we can see all around the city. A staple of our town.”
The contest has already seen 22 "fantastic" applications, which Emmons said are “extremely impressive and memorable.” Contestants are competing for the top three slots, which will each be gifted $500. The overall winner, which will be chosen by the public, will receive and additional $1,000.
“The public gets to choose the design they like the best!” Emmons said. “We all get a say.”
Residents who are interest in in competing can visit the city’s website at jacksontn.gov/residents/flagdesigncontest.
All submissions—only one per person—should be digital, and fit on an 8.5 by 11 paper.
Additionally, flags may only consist of three colors, with two of them being the blue and green seen currently on city branding, like the website.
“That’s not many colors, so think very minimalist,” Emmons encouraged. “Think like a child being able to recreate to design—It also needs to be mirrored.“
The contest closes at midnight on April 30, with the winner to be announced on July 1.
Emmons encourages everyone to participate.
“For anyone wondering why this is important, I think having a sense of pride in our community is something we all have, and having that symbol that we can all get around and have something that represents our community and unites us in a very artistic way is so important,” she said. “It’s a symbol of our unity and pride for our community.”
Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 731-343-5212, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham.
This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Celebrate the Jackson-Madison County Bicentennial by designing the city's new flag
