A 13-year-old seventh grader designed the Alaska State Flag in 1926. Benny Benson entered a contest to design the flag and won. The flag has a blue background with and gold stars.
The blue color represents the Alaskan sky and the state flower, which is a forget-me-not. The gold color represents the wealth of the people. The North Star and the Big Dipper represents Alaska's position to the heavens. Alaska was the 49th state admitted in 1959. The flag was adopted in 1927.
There is a symbolic link to the state flower, the flag and the song of Alaska.
Although Benson designed the flag, two others expanded on his work by creating a song that goes along with the flag and mentions the state flower as well, but the second verse of the sound was never adopted, but only the first verse was.
The state flag is flown from every school and government building under the National Flag of the United States.