COLUMBIA, S.C. — The City of Columbia has finalized the designers to create a new city flag design.
The Columbia Design League is working in partnership with the Columbia City Council and Mayor Steve Benjamin to select this new design.
The resolution to choose a new flag design was adopted by the Columbia City Council in January of 2017 and received 544 designs. 18 of those designs were chosen as "finalists," but after public input it was decided to consider additional criteria.
According to the City of Columbia and the Columbia Design League, the hope is to have a design that reflects Columbia's history and spirit..
In order to select a new flag, they will begin collecting new designs.
A group of five designs have been given six weeks to submit designs. Each designer will receive a $500 stipend from the City of Columbia and will be able to submit multiple designs.
The new submissions will be presented to Columbia’s mayor, Steve Benjamin, and City Council for a blind review, omitting the designer's name. The mayor and the City Council will make a final determination and adopt a new flag.
“I am very excited about getting this process going and soon adopting a new flag for our historic city,” said Mayor Steve Benjamin. “Thank you to the Columbia Design League, One Columbia, and all others who are turning the idea of a new flag into a reality. We have an incredibly talented group of artists working on this project and I’m looking forward to seeing the designs they all come up with.”
The designer of the selected flag design will receive $2,000 provided by the Columbia Design League and Columbia Flag & Sign Company.
The modifications to the criteria include background on Columbia's 1786 founding, and the proclamation by Senator John Lewis Gervais that the city would be a place where residents would "“find refuge under the wings of Columbia,” referring to a personified Columbia, often depicted as a goddess-like female figure.
The criteria continues to say they should "incorporate colors and/or symbols that represent contemporary Columbia and the diversity of people that live and work in the city, as well as symbols or shapes that signify wings. Designs also may include other symbols, shapes or colors that signify other key identifiers of the City of Columbia."
The participating designs are Samuel Choate, John Gehringer, Daniel Jones, Nick Julian,and The Half and Half.
“Of all of Columbia Design League’s many excellent programs over the years, this open design competition will likely result in the most enduring positive impact,” says Columbia Design League co-founder Tom Savory. “I am excited to see how the five top finalists will respond to the additional criteria, and am looking forward to a new city flag representative of our city’s rich history and our vibrant, diverse community.”
To read more about the process, click here.
