Politics Of Picking Memorials

With more than 5000 entries in the design competition for a World Trade Center memorial, how do jurors go about choosing? “In the first round, a jury typically tries to eliminate 75 percent to 80 percent of the entries. Richard Andrews, the director of the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, said that sophisticated juries could rule out some entries within 10 seconds. ‘But there will also be entries where three or four of the jurors say they didn’t see anything and one will say: `Look at it again. Here’s what I found.’ And it will be held over for a second round.’ That’s when jurors really start debating and discussing stylistic differences among submissions.”