Alaska State Flag

About the Alaska State Flag

Blue field with the Big Dipper and Polaris in gold The recorded proportion is 125:177. Within this library it is grouped with plain field with a central emblem designs.

Colours and construction

The reference palette stored for Alaska is Blue (#0F204B) and Gold (#FFB612). The colour table above is intended for digital reference; where an issuing authority publishes a different colour standard, that specification takes precedence.

Symbols and recorded meaning

Big Dipper: Part of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, standing for strength; North Star: Alaska as the northernmost state; Designer: Created in 1927 by Benny Benson, a 13-year-old orphan, for a territorial design contest.

History and adoption record

The adoption field for the present record is May 2, 1927.

Entity status

Alaska is classified here as u.s. state. That label describes the entity represented by the flag and prevents a territory, state or constituent area from being presented as a sovereign country.

Additional flag context

Benny Benson was thirteen and living at an orphanage in Seward when he won the 1927 territorial design competition, beating roughly seven hundred other entries.

His submitted explanation — blue for the sky and the forget-me-not, the Dipper for the Great Bear meaning strength, the North Star for the future state of Alaska — is still quoted in full by the state.

The flag flew for thirty-two years over a territory before Alaska became a state in 1959, and was adopted unchanged.

How to identify this flag

For quick identification, look for Blue field with the Big Dipper and Polaris in gold, a 125:177 proportion and the visible big Dipper. Use the comparison and design-family links on this page when another flag has a similar palette or layout.