<P> During her time as state regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1912, Ella Park Lawrence began a campaign to have Illinois adopt a state flag . She was unsuccessful during her time as state regent, but continued to lobby members of the Illinois General Assembly to adopt a state flag as a member of the Rockford chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution . On April 1, 1914, Lawrence sent a letter to every Illinois chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution announcing a contest to design an Illinois state flag, with the winner receiving a prize of $25 . Thirty - five designs were submitted in response to this contest . </P> <P> The contest was judged by a panel chaired by Lewis Stevenson, Illinois Secretary of State . They selected the design of Lucy Derwent . The flag became the official state banner on July 6, 1915, following its passage in the Illinois State House and Senate . Governor Edward F. Dunne did not sign the bill, but he did not veto it . </P> <P> In the 1960s, Chief Petty Officer Bruce McDaniel petitioned to have the name of the state added to the flag . He noted that many of the people he served with during the Vietnam War did not recognize the banner . Governor Richard B. Ogilvie signed the addition to the flag into law on September 17, 1969, and the new flag was designed by Mrs. Sanford Hutchinson and became the official flag on July 1, 1970 . </P> <P> For Illinois's first 100 years of statehood in 1918, Wallace Rice, who designed Chicago's flag, designed a centennial flag for the state . It had three horizontal bands of equal width alternating white, blue, white . It was charged with 21 stars along the edge of the hoist . There were 10 blue stars in the upper white band and 10 in the lower white band, representing the 10 northern and 10 southern states at the time of Illinois' statehood in 1818 . The center blue band had one large, white star for the state of Illinois itself . </P>

What was added to the illinois state flag in 1969