The 13-member jury charged with selecting the winner of the World Trade Center memorial competition expects to render its decision by year's end. Between now and then, the jury will be deciding which of the eight finalists announced Nov. 19 will be the winner, based somewhat on public feedback.

According to jurist Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corp. of New York, the finalists were selected from entries that "best embody both the letter and the spirit of the mission entrusted" to the jury. The jury's mission is to select a memorial that remembers and honors those who have died, recognizes the endurance of those who survived, the courage of those who risked their lives to save the lives of others and the compassion of all those who supported the victims' families in their darkest hours. The mandate is to keep the footprints of the destroyed, twin 110-story towers unencumbered and provide access to the bedrock at Ground Zero. The jury,includes a victim's family member, artists and architects, public art administrators, a museum director, a Lower Manhattan resident, public officials, an educator and a historian. It was looking for designs "that represent the heights of imagination while incorporating aesthetic grace and spiritual strength."

The eight designs interpret the competition guidelines,which include delineation of the tower footprints, recognition of every individual killed in terrorist attacks on Sept.11, 2001, and Feb. 26, 1993,and a final resting place for unidentified remains, according to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., sponsor of the competition. After receiving 5,201 entries, with submissions from 63 nations and 49 states, LMDC describedthe competition as the largest in history.

The eight finalists are: 1) Votives in Suspension, by Norman Lee and Michael Lewis; 2) Lower Waters, by Bradley Campbell and Matthias Neumann; 3) Passages of Light: The Memorial Could, by Gisela Baurmann, Sawad Brooks and Jonas Coersmeier; 4) Suspending Memory, by Joseph Karadin with Hsin-Yi Wu; 5) Garden of Lights,by Pierre David with Sean Corriel and Jessica Kmetovic; 6) Reflecting Absence: A Memorial at the World Trade Center Site, by Michael Arad; 7) Dual Memory, by Brian Strawn and Karla Sieralta; 8) Inversion of Light, by Toshio Sasaki (see pictures below).

There are still several unresolved issues, said Gregorian at the Nov. 19 press conference at the Winter Garden atrium across from the WTC site. These include how the names of the dead are listed, how to respect the tower footprints and the relation of the memorial to the site.

Several relatives of firefighters are concerned that, as it stands, the names of the dead will be alphabetized without distinguishing between those who died in the line of duty, such as firefighters and police, and those who were victims of the attackers. Additionally, some object to the inclusion of the victims of 9/11 outside of New York City with the WTC. The memorial will also include the victims of the 1993 attack on the WTC.

In addition to Gregorian, jury members are: Paula Grant Berry, widow of David Berry,killed in 2 WTC, who serves on the LMDC Families Advisory Council and was a memorial program drafting committee member; Susan Freedman, president of the Public Art Fund; Patricia Harris, New York's deputy mayor for administration; Maya Lin, artist and designer of architectural projects, and the creator of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, Washington, D.C.; Michael McKeon, managing director of Mercury Public Affairs and former director of communications for New York Gov. George Pataki; Julie Menin, president and co-founder of Wall Street Rising, a nonprofit founded in 2001 whose mission is to help restore vitality to Lower Manhattan; architect Enrique Norten; founder of Taller de Enrique Norten Arquictectos S.C. (Ten Arquitectos); Martin Puryear, an artist who recently completed a stainless steel sculpture for the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; Nancy Rosen, of the firm that bears her name, dedicated to fostering public art; Lowery Stokes Sims, executive director of the Studio Museum, in Harlem; architect Michael Van Valkenburgh of the firm that bears his name; James Young, professor and chair of the Dept. of Judaic & Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and philanthropist and businessman David Rockefeller, chairman emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, as honorary member.

The process the jury undertook involved hours of "frank" discussion, agreements and disagreements, said Gregorian. Each submission was evaluated. In the first phase, where submissions were narrowed to eight, proceedings were guarded and the names of the submitters kept from the jury. Anonymity ended when the eight finalists were selected. Each team was given a stipend to refine its entry and each team was interviewed by the jury.

The jury recognizes that"even the final version of the winning design will require additional refinements, including how the names of each of the victims should be recognized, how to respect the footprints, how to provide access to bedrock, and the relationship between the memorial to the site's museum, said Gregorian.

The finalist designs are on exhibit at the Winter Garden while the jury continues its work. Others interested in "seeing" the designs virtually can log on to www.wtcsitememorial.org or LMDC's www.renewnyc.com.

For those who want to get even more involved, Imagine New York is holding workshops starting Nov. 20 to "qualitively" evaluate the schemes. For information, contact Ernie Hutton, 212-206-0460, or Rick Bell (212) 683-0023 x110).

The Finalists
	Garden of Lights Pierre David with Sean Corriel, Jessica Kmetovic Paris, France
	Passages of Light: The Memorial Cloud bbc art + architecture Baurmann Brooks Coersmeier Gisela Baurmann, Sawad Brooks, and Jonas Coersmeier New York, NY
	Dual Memory Brian Strawn and Karla Sierralta Chicago, IL
	Suspending Memory Joseph Karadin with Hsin-Yi Wu New York, NY
	Lower Waters Bradley Campbell and Matthias Neumann Brooklyn, NY
	Votives in Suspension Norman Lee and Michael Lewis Houston, TX
	Reflecting Absence Michael Arad New York, NY
	Inversion of Light Toshio Sasaki Brooklyn, NY