Who is Minnesota flag designer Andrew prekkar

1. A young designer with a local origin story

Prekker is a Luverne native and lifelong Minnesotan who began seriously designing flags after joining a Facebook group called “Minnesotans for a Better Flag,” producing dozens—more than 50—iterations before submitting three entries to the official contest ^{[5] [6]}. Multiple outlets identify him as 24 years old at the time his design advanced to the final stages, describing him alternately as an artist and writer who taught himself vexillology through research and consultation with experts and communities ^{[7] [8] [5]}.

2. The winning idea: shape, star and symbolism

Prekker’s original submission centered on an abstracted shape of Minnesota at the hoist, a prominent white North Star nodding to the state motto L’Étoile du Nord, and three stripes intended to represent water, land and snow; those core elements—especially the state outline and star—carried into the final concept the commission adopted ^{[3] [9] [10]}. He has explained that inspiration came from Minnesota geography and history—the Mississippi and “10,000 lakes,” the Dakota-language roots of the state name—and from flag-design principles favoring simple, memorable imagery ^{[5] [9]}.

3. From submission to state flag: commission edits and adoption

While Prekker’s design provided the concept, the State Emblems Redesign Commission made adjustments—most notably replacing his three white, green and blue stripes with a solid light-blue field and refining the star and silhouette—before voting to select the final flag concept in December 2023 and the legislature writing it into law with adoption in 2024 ^{[4] [11] [2]}. The commission’s changes were presented as efforts to “hone in” on key elements and produce a flag that reads well at distance, a concern consistent with vexillological standards cited by experts ^{[12] [8]}.

4. Public reception, praise and pushback

Prekker’s design and the commission’s final flag have generated both praise—from vexillologists who called the result distinctive and from supporters who applauded moving away from the previous seal-heavy flag criticized as colonial and offensive—and pushback from citizens and officials who objected to specific visual choices or to the process, with some county boards indicating they would raise concerns to the governor and others calling for more public input or a referendum ^{[8] [4]}. Flag experts like Ted Kaye of the North American Vexillological Association publicly graded the final design highly, while activists and some local leaders have emphasized participation and representation concerns during the redesign process ^{[8] [9]}.

5. How Prekker frames his role and intentions

Prekker has said repeatedly that his aim was to create a flag “every Minnesotan” could fly with pride, explicitly hoping Indigenous communities and tribal nations could see themselves represented, and he described his work as the result of extensive revisions, research into state history and consultations with vexillologists and community members ^{[7] [5]}. At public events—including a Flag Day program in Luverne—he appeared alongside commission members to explain the design’s origins and to position the choice as a community-rooted, youth-driven opportunity for a new civic symbol ^{[3] [1]}.

6. Where reporting stops and what remains unknown

Available reporting provides a coherent portrait of Prekker’s role as the designer of submission F1953 and his background as a young Luverne-based artist who researched flag design and iterated extensively, but it does not offer exhaustive detail about his formal training, broader artistic portfolio beyond the flag work, or his private motivations beyond public statements ^{[5] [7]}. Claims about who benefited politically from the selection process or the deeper internal deliberations of the commission beyond public minutes are not fully documented in the cited reporting and therefore remain outside the verified record presented here ^{[4] [10]}.