More than 2000 submissions meeting the legislative criteria were received and displayed on the Mississippi Department of Archives and History website. Each of the 9 commission members picked 25 flags, narrowing the list down to 147. While a modified Hospitality flag did not proceed beyond the first round, a similar-looking "Mosquito flag" briefly did, apparently due to a commissioner's typographical error. At an August 14 meeting, the commission announced that they had selected nine finalists. These finalists, depicting various elements including a representation of the Mississippi River, magnolias, and stars composed of diamonds significant to the Choctaw nation, had either red, white, and blue or green and white color schemes. The commission announced that they would narrow these designs down to five finalists at its next meeting on August 18. Five finalists were published on August 18, and this was reduced to two flags on August 25.