NAVA 54

Because of the limitations on travel imposed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, NAVA's 2020 meeting took place in the WebEx-based 1,000-seat "virtual meeting room" of the U.S. Library of Congress. (This meeting was originally planned for St. Augustine, Florida, but was postponed to 2022 and became NAVA 56).

More Details and additional photos of NAVA 54:

• NAVA 54 Program
• NAVA 54 Printable Schedule
  
• NAVA 54 Photo Gallery
• NAVA 54 report in Vexillum 11
  

NAVA 54 Organizing Committee: Peter Ansoff, Amber Atteberry, Elizabeth Brown, Stan Contrades, and Ted Kaye.

Please Note: All photos on this page were screen shots taken while the historic eight-hour-long NAVA 54 meeting was taking place online.

The NAVA 54 Flag:

In a flag-design contest that ran for less than four weeks, 44 vexillographers submitted 101 designs for the NAVA 54 flag before the deadline.  In under three days, the five-member selection committee chose the winner, created by Matthew Thomas of the U.K.  He explained its symbolism: “This flag features a rotated ‘V’ for Vexillology, stylized as the ‘Share’ icon used across social media.  This symbol and the WiFi bars represent the Internet’s growing importance for vexillology and its ability to unite flag lovers everywhere, as in NAVA 54.  The flag features the colors of the flag of NAVA.”

Flag Design Judging Committee: Thomas Berryhill, Zach Harden, Carlos Alberto Morales Ramirez, Maikel Arista Salado, and Winn Wasson.

Vexibits:

• How the 1800 flag of the Septinsular Republic came about – Stratis Andreadis
  
• Proposed flag for Kenyon College – Alex Gilkey
  
• Japanese Signal Flags – Chris Maddish
  
• Vexillological Association of Kansas City – Grant Owens
  
• Flag post cards (Annin of 1917) – Al Cavalari
  
• The Flag of Rajneeshpuram, Oregon – Ted Kaye
  
• Military Flag Patches – John Andrews
  
• Proposed flag for Kodiak, Alaska – Greg Hersh
  
• A Toronto Blue Jays 2019 World Series Championship banner – Pete Loeser

Presentations:

• Flags and State Iconography of Hashemite Iraq, 1921 to 1958 – John Andrews
• Advancing Vexillogical Philately – Edwin Jackson
• The American Thin Blue Line Flag: A Controversial Success Story – Scott Mainwaring
• The Unwaved Flag in Churches – Benjamin Nickodemus
• United States Revenue-Marine and Customs Flags: A New Perspective – David B. Martucci
• Neḥushtan at Sea: What is Fouling that Anchor? – Bard Cosman
• A Flag Incident in San Francisco – Jim Ferrigan

The Bear Flag Museum, Sacramento, California; Herold Flags, Rochester, Minnesota; Jeff R. Bridgman Antiques, Inc., York, Pennsylvania; smALLFLAGs.com, Oregon City, Oregon, and The Flag Guys, New Windsor, New York.

Fiscal Sponsors: Dixie Flag Company, San Antonio, Texas (lead sponsor).

The event was free to attend, but holding it had some costs.  Each "sponsor" received a 4x6 inch meeting flag, a COVID defiance flag, a NAVA 54 flag pin, and other materials from NAVA 54.

Individual Sponsors: Phil Allen, Tyler Amick, Stratis Andreadis, Peter Ansoff, Amber Atteberry, James A. Barr, Levi Barraclough, Paul Bassinson, Bill Belanich, Thomas Berryhill, John Bertrand, James Carlin, Tom Carrier, Barry Cosgriff, Bard Cosman, Luca Demirag, Caleb Demree, Dixie Flags, Mary-Ann Docktor-Smith, Federico Drews, Tom Edwards, Nolan Eickhoff, Jonathan Epstein, Arthur Etchells, Gary Flanders, Aracelli Fullem, David-Roger Gagnon, William Gifford, Lee Goodson, Shawn Guerrero, Zachary Harden, Mark Hayden, Melissa Heeke, Lee Herold, Charles Hillers, Edwin Jackson, Anna Jankowski, Bea Jones, Ted Kaye, Steven Knowlton, Christopher Kwolik, Thomas Landry, R. Joseph Latshaw III, Jesus Licón, Pete Loeser, Wayne Lovett, Jack Lowe, Grant MacArthur, Christopher Maddish, AJ Magnan, David Martucci, Gregory Matson, Timothy McCloskey, Daniel McCloskey, Nicolas McCutcheon, Rich Monahan, Dipesh Navsaria, William Neckrock, Tristan Ng, John Niggley, Dan Niven, Grant Owens, Chris Pawson, Tadd Pinkston, Jon Radel, Gary Randall, Sophie Rault, Gavin Rehkemper, Timothy Schoonover, Lawrence Shaffer, Jim Sherrill, Randy Smith, Nicole Steen, Bill Trinkle, William Victoria, Steve Wheatley, Edward White, Cindy Williams, Kian Williams, and Matthew Yosgott.

Special Thanks to:

• The Library of Congress for hosting the virtual meeting.
• CRW Flags for supplying the large meeting flags.
• PROMEX GmbH for subsidizing the flag pins.
• Dixie Flag Company for storing NAVA’s meeting flags and for its lead sponsorship.

NAVA 54 Virtual Group Photo:

After the meeting ended, about 80 participants adjourned to a Zoom session for a group photo and a social hour.