# Exhibit 31.1

I, Tony J. Sorcic, certify that:

| | 1. |  | I
have  reviewed this annual  report on Form 10-K of Princeton  National  Bancorp,
Inc.;
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| | 2. |  | Based
on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material
fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements  made, in
light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading
with respect to the period covered by this report;
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| | 3. |  | Based
on my  knowledge,  the financial  statements,  and other  financial  information
included in this report,  fairly present in all material  respects the financial
condition,  results of  operations  and cash flows of the  registrant as of, and
for, the periods presented in this report;
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| | 4. |  | The
registrants   other   certifying   officer  and  I  are   responsible  for
establishing and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal  control over financial
reporting  (as defined in Exchange Act Rules  13a-15(f) and  15d-15(f))  for the
registrant and have:
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| |  | a) |  | Designed
such disclosure controls and procedures,  or caused such disclosure controls and
procedures  to be  designed  under  our  supervision,  to ensure  that  material
information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries,
is made known to us by others  within those  entities,  particularly  during the
period in which this report is being prepared;
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| |  | b) |  | Designed
such internal control over financial reporting,  or caused such internal control
over  financial  reporting  to be  designed  under our  supervision,  to provide
reasonable  assurance  regarding the reliability of financial  reporting and the
preparation  of financial  statements for external  purposes in accordance  with
generally accepted accounting principles.
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| |  | c) |  | Evaluated
the effectiveness of the  registrants  disclosure  controls and procedures
and  presented in this report our  conclusions  about the  effectiveness  of the
disclosure controls and procedures,  as of the end of the period covered by this
report based on such evaluation; and
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| |  | d) |  | Disclosed
in this  report  any  change  in the  registrants  internal  control  over
financial  reporting  that  occurred  during the  registrants  most recent
fiscal  quarter (the  registrants  fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an
annual  report)  that  has  materially  affected,  or is  reasonably  likely  to
materially  affect,  the  registrants   internal  control  over  financial
reporting; and
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| | 5. |  | The
registrants  other certifying  officer and I have disclosed,  based on our
most recent  evaluation of internal  control over  financial  reporting,  to the
registrants  auditors  and the audit  committee  of the  registrants
board of directors:
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| |  | a) |  | all
significant  deficiencies and material  weaknesses in the design or operation of
internal  control  over  financial  reporting  which  are  reasonably  likely to
adversely affect the registrants ability to record, process, summarize and
report financial information; and
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| |  | b) |  | any
fraud, whether or not material,  that involves management or other employees who
have a significant role in the registrants internal control over financial
reporting.
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|/s/ Tony J. Sorcic                                                       
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|Tony
J. Sorcic      President
& Chief Executive Officer      May
10, 2005

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