NEW YORK (AP):
IN RECORD-BREAKING numbers, more than 5,200 individuals and groups from around the globe submitted proposals for a memorial to those died in the World Trade Center attack, officials announced Thursday.
The competition to design the memorial yielded extraordinary results: Proposals were received from 62 countries and every state except Alaska.
"The tremendous response this petition has received from individuals at home and abroad is a true testament of the unity people from around the world have demonstrated since the Sept-ember 11 attacks," Gov. George E. Pataki said.
The memorial is to include references to the February 26, 1993, bombing of the Trade Center as well as the September 11, 2001 attacks.
It is to be built on a 4.7-acre site encompassing the so-called "footprints" where the center's twin towers stood. A design competition to create a master plan for the entire ground zero site was held earlier this year.
The 5,200 submissions are a record in a design competition for a memorial, officials for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation said. The previous record was 1,421 submissions for the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Applicants had to mail their designs to a warehouse where they were checked for anthrax, chemical agents and explosives before being shipped to a second, undisclosed location where the jury will review them.
A 13-member jury is to choose a handful of finalists in September and a winner later in the fall. The competition was open to anyone over age 18 who paid a fee of US$25.
