How fitting that we’re announcing this champion on Flag Day.
New Mexico 42, South Carolina 31
Instagram: 23-17
Twitter: 14-12
Google Form: 5-2
South Carolina was competitive, but the people were in agreement: New Mexico’s flag is better. With this, New Mexico becomes our third champion, joining Arizona and California from previous years and making scholars everywhere ask why it is that the three states in our nation’s southwest corner have such good flags. For South Carolina, it’s back to the drawing board after yet again coming close but earning no cigar.
The People’s Rankings from this year are as follows, and barring a flag change, they’ll serve as the seeds for State Flags Bracket IV next summer:
| Rank | Flag | Score |
| 1 | New Mexico | 100.00 |
| 2 | South Carolina | 84.93 |
| 3 | Alaska | 78.40 |
| 4 | Colorado | 64.71 |
| 5 | California | 61.25 |
| 6 | Arizona | 57.14 |
| 7 | Texas | 56.62 |
| 8 | Oklahoma | 54.88 |
| 9 | Maryland | 49.00 |
| 10 | Hawaii | 48.53 |
| 11 | Mississippi | 46.75 |
| 12 | Indiana | 46.13 |
| 13 | Wyoming | 46.08 |
| 14 | Vermont | 44.70 |
| 15 | Oregon | 43.55 |
| 16 | Pennsylvania | 41.85 |
| 17 | Michigan | 40.95 |
| 18 | Missouri | 40.77 |
| 19 | Ohio | 38.46 |
| 20 | Washington | 38.31 |
| 21 | Louisiana | 37.55 |
| 22 | Rhode Island | 37.14 |
| 23 | Virginia | 36.24 |
| 24 | Illinois | 35.14 |
| 25 | Iowa | 32.16 |
| 26 | Montana | 30.33 |
| 27 | Idaho | 27.76 |
| 28 | Connecticut | 26.21 |
| 29 | New York | 25.46 |
| 30 | Minnesota | 25.40 |
| 31 | Nevada | 24.86 |
| 32 | Nebraska | 23.57 |
| 33 | Maine | 23.56 |
| 34 | Utah | 22.14 |
| 35 | Wisconsin | 22.13 |
| 36 | New Hampshire | 20.68 |
| 37 | North Carolina | 19.51 |
| 38 | North Dakota | 18.77 |
| 39 | Massachusetts | 16.26 |
| 40 | Kansas | 15.60 |
| 41 | South Dakota | 14.75 |
| 42 | West Virginia | 14.13 |
| 43 | New Jersey | 13.19 |
| 44 | Kentucky | 12.93 |
| 45 | Delaware | 9.10 |
Comparing these to last year’s, the top seven stay the same (albeit shuffled), while Oklahoma jumps into the top eight, Wyoming and Montana tumble, Washington and Hawaii nearly exactly swap, and Indiana enjoys a big come-up. Vermont’s high seed is curious, as it’s one of the blue-flag-with-a-seal states. It’s currently set to face Ohio in its opening matchup, with the winner staring down Alaska, who’s always a factor and may be among next year’s favorites.
Congratulations to Mackiveli, the champion bracket in our prediction competition. You will be receiving a t-shirt that’s very unrelated to state flags and is mildly profane.
We’ll be back soon with the unveiling of License Plate Bracket III, with another prediction competition accompanying it. The current plan is for first round voting to take place in that bracket on Monday morning.
