Over 9,100 flags (and still counting) – final may reach 10,000

The Flag Consideration Panel announced that 9,103 flags had been published as at 11.59pm Thursday 16 July. The final number, once moderated, could reach as many as 10,000.

Flag Consideration Panel chair, Professor John Burrows, said thank you to the millions of people who had shared what made New Zealand special to them and the thousands that had put significant thought into how those values informed New Zealand’s identity as depicted in their flag design.

“As expected, there are hundreds of designs that have come in just ahead of the deadline and these will need to go through the same robust checking process as others to ensure they meet the guidelines and terms and conditions. We expect this to be completed within 48 hours.

The Panel will then look at how the designs suggested bring together values and our identity as a nation.

There are also a large number of other factors we need to consider in this rigorous process from a practical and technical perspective, to ensure designs would be workable and ‘fit for purpose’, as well as meeting the principles of good flag design,” said Professor Burrows.

Professor Burrows said that designs received to date had featured predominant colours such as white, blue and red and symbols and themes including the Southern Cross, koru, fern and Māori culture.

“The Panel will announce the preliminary long list of between 50-75 designs by mid-August and the four alternatives that the public will rank in the first referendum will be announced by mid-September,” said Professor Burrows.

Flag designs can be viewed on www.flag.govt.nz.

ENDS

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