'We are Crimson' wins UA's competition

20 Oct '10

2 min read

The 410,170 votes have been counted and a panel of judges has decided — “We Are Crimson.”

Linnzi Rich, of Stevenson, created the winning design for The University of Alabama's official tartan. The junior majoring in clothing, textile and interior design was announced as the winner at the College of Human Environmental Sciences' recent Homecoming Convocation.

The design, predominantly crimson and white with accents of black and gray, will be recorded in the International Tartan Index, maintained by the Scottish Tartans Authority and the National Tartan Registry. Rich's design will also be incorporated into merchandise for purchase.

Rich will receive a $1,000 scholarship as well as a percentage of sales made from the tartan. Additional profits will be placed in a scholarship fund to assist Human Environmental Sciences' students.

The design competition was narrowed to three finalists, Rich, Brittany Long and Candace Lucas. The student designers were asked to create plaids that were indicative of UA's past and present.

Results from an online vote were given to an independent judging panel who considered them before selecting the official UA tartan.

“I wanted my tartan to be easily recognized as the University's plaid,” Rich said of her design. “So, naturally I wanted the predominant colors to be crimson and white, with accents of black and gray. Secondly, I wanted it to represent the entire University, so I used 13 lines to represent the 13 colleges that comprise The University of Alabama today.

“Then, in the center of the design, the innermost white square represents Denny Chimes, and the whole central plaid represents the Quad because the Quad is the heart of the campus. The four corners of the center plaid speak to our past and represent the four original buildings that survived the fire set by the Union troops during the Civil War.”

University of Alabama

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