WASHINGTON, DC: The U.S. World War I Centennial Commission has scheduled a press event to formally announce the winning design team for the national World War I Memorial design competition. (See the finalists here.)

The event will take place at the National Press Club in Washington, DC at 2pm on Monday, 25 January 2016. All media members are invited to attend.

The Commission was established Congress in 2013 to ensure a suitable observation in the United States of the centennial of World War I.  In 2014 Congress authorized the commission to establish a national World War I memorial in Washington, D.C.  Congress designated Pershing Park as the site for the memorial.

Pershing Park is located one block from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, adjacent to the Willard Hotel and the District of Columbia’s Wilson Building.

In May 2015 the commission opened an international design competition. In Stage I of the competition, the Commission received more than 360 design concepts from designers around the world. In August, an independent jury of design professionals and historians selected five of the design concepts to advance to Stage II of the competition.

The five design teams consulted with representatives from the Commission, the National Park Service, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Planning Commission, and other stakeholders to develop and refine their design concepts. The designs must must meet a number of criteria related to design merit, site considerations, environmental impact, historical preservation, sustainability, and cost.  The designers submitted their final concepts in December 2015.

The competition jury reviewed the finalists’ submissions earlier this month, and recommended a team for selection by the Commission.

About the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission: ww1cc.org