Flag and seal of Illinois

The flag and Seal of the State of Illinois are the state's official symbols. The seal is used on official state documents. The top part of the seal has the words "Seal of the State of Illinois" The date Aug. 26th 1818 (on which Illinois was declared a U.S. State) is at the bottom of the seal. A bald eagle is in the middle.^[1]

State of Illinois

Use	Civil and state flag
Proportion	3:5
Adopted	July 6, 1915; 109 years ago (1915-07-06) (initial version) September 17, 1969; 55 years ago (1969-09-17) (alteration)
Design	A state seal above the word Illinois in blue on a white field.
Designed by	Sharon Tyndale

Great Seal of the State of Illinois
Details
Armiger	State of Illinois
Adopted	1868
Supporters	7
Motto	"State Sovereignty, National Union"

Secretary of the State Sharon Tyndale made an updated version for the seal in 1867.

Illinois' state flag

The state's flag was chosen in 1915. The flag has the state seal of Illinois surrounded by white. This original design was changed in 1961 to add the name of the state at the bottom of the flag. It originally did not have the word Illinois at the bottom of the flag. But in 1969, the state word was added to the flag.^[2] The 1969 edition of Illinois' flag is the version that was used from then on.

Flag of Illinois (1915–1969)

2025 flag change

On December 10th, 2024, 10 finalists for a new Illinois state flag were released.^[3] They were chosen from thousands of designs in a flag redesign competition to be put to a public vote from January-February 2025. In addition to those designs, people could vote to adopt the Centennial Flag, the Sesquicentennial Flag, or the current flag. When the votes were counted, 43% voted to keep the current flag.

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  Submission 200
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  Submission 896
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  Submission 2246
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  Submission 2752
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  Submission 3679
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  Submission 3754
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  Submission 4129
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  Submission 4220
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  Submission 4321
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  Submission 4669

Anniversary flags

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  Centennial Flag
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  Sesquicentennial Flag
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  Bicentennial Flag