Sandy Hook Memorial Designs Narrowed to Four

NEWTOWN - After receiving 188 submissions, the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission has narrowed down their design choices to four.

Last September, the commission began accepting designs for the town's permanent memorial to the 20 students and six educators killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012. The memorial will occupy a 5.3-acre property in Sandy Hook.

Besides their beauty, the four leading designs all share deeply symbolic composition. The design narrative for "The Clearing," depicted here, reads in part: "The center of the fountain is planted with a young sycamore, in remembrance of the young age at which many the victims were taken from us. American sycamores are durable, long lived, and fast growing trees. The mottled white bark represents the innocence of the victims."

“The Clearing” and the three other design finalists -- “Between the Silence and the Sun,” “Sandy Hook Memorial Garden,” and “Let the Earth Hold Us + Heal Us” -- will be the topic of discussion at the May 10 meeting of the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission.

The commission has made all the designs and their narratives available on the town website. The designers' names have not yet been made public.

Photo via Newtown Website.