A design competition for a tribute to one of Atlanta’s leading citizens, Andrew Young has begun. The competition is open to all artists, designers, landscape architects and architects, with the goal of creating a living monument to the former mayor in a prime Downtown location.

The tribute seeks to celebrate the life of Young – spanning his illustrious path from minister, to civil rights leader, Congressman, United Nations Ambassador, Mayor, chair of The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) and now self-styled “private sector diplomat.”

The competition will be a two-stage invited Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process. Both individuals and teams of artists, designers, architects, sculptors, landscape architects and others are invited to submit qualifications describing their skill, specifically focused on previous award-winning, peer-reviewed work.

An Advisory Panel comprising local individuals who represented Atlanta’s diversity, including the arts, business, and government community will review qualifications received and help select eight semifinalists who will be invited to Atlanta for an interview. After interviews, finalists will be selected and provided with a stipend to produce a specific design honoring Young. A professional jury will select the winning design that will be further developed for implementation.

Invited jurors that have committed to serve include:

• Ben Forgey, Hon. AIA, The Washington Post, architecture critic
• Edward Hamilton, Edward Hamilton Studio, sculptor
• Cynthia Jones Parks, Jones Worley, designer
• Amy Landesberg, AIA, Amy Landesberg Architects
• David Lee, FAIA, Stull and Lee, Inc Architects
• Nimrod Long III, FASLA, Nimrod Long & Associates, landscape architect
• Ivenue Love-Stanley, FAIA, Stanley Love-Stanley, Architects

The competition RFQ was distributed on September 17, 2004. Responses are due back October 22, 2004. Finalists will be selected during the last week of October and will be followed by interviews and further selection in November. The process will culminate with the announcement of the winning design during the CAP/ADID Annual Meeting to be held in March 2005.