A June 21 release from the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation:
The Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation today announced the formal launch of the selection process to determine the team that will design a new memorial on the National Mall to commemorate press freedom and honor journalists who have lost their lives in service to that cause. As part of this process, the foundation announced a distinguished selection committee consisting of the foundation’s leadership and prominent individuals in the fields of architecture and design from across the country. “We have taken another significant step toward making the memorial a reality and completing it on schedule,” said Fallen Journalist Memorial Foundation Founder and Chairman David Dreier.
The new committee that will evaluate the proposed designs for the memorial includes:
- Milton S. F. Curry, Professor of Architecture at the University of Southern California School of Architecture;
- Joe Day, designer and architectural theorist;
- Paul Goldberger, Pulitzer-Prize winning architecture critic and professor of design;
- Alan Harwood, Principal and Vice President at AECOM;
- Blair Kamin, Pulitzer-Prize winning architecture critic and author;
- Mia Lehrer, landscape architect and President of Studio-MLA;
- Eden Rafshoon, President, Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies;
- David Dreier, Founder and Chairman, Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation;
- Barbara Cochran, President, Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation; and
- Vincent Randazzo, Project Director, Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation.
Click here to read the biographies of the committee members.
“We are honored to work with such an esteemed group of leaders from across the nation in the fields of architecture and design whose judgment is highly respected,” stated Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation President Barbara Cochran. “We are thrilled to have their expertise throughout this process as we select the design for a memorial that will help reinforce the significance of the essential public service journalists provide, even in the face of danger.”
The foundation has chosen to hold an invited competition for the memorial design and sent out a Request for Expressions of Interest to a broad and diverse group of more than 100 architects and designers. The selection of a final design team is expected to be announced in early 2024.
Congress enacted legislation in December 2020 authorizing the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation to construct a memorial “to commemorate America’s commitment to a free press by honoring journalists who sacrificed their lives in service to that cause.” In December 2022, Congress passed additional legislation authorizing the foundation to consider locating the memorial in an area around the National Mall reserved for works of pre-eminent and lasting historical significance.
After clearing multiple regulatory hurdles, the foundation, on April 27, 2023, received approval to begin designing the memorial for a location at the east entrance to the National Mall with a direct view of the U.S. Capitol. It is a one-third acre parcel bounded by Independence Avenue, Maryland Avenue, and 3rd Street SW, between the National Museum of the American Indian and the Voice of America. The memorial will be funded entirely by private donations, and the goal is to complete it by the end of 2028.
“Translating the ideas of freedom of the press and the notion of honoring those who have lost their lives in pursuit of the truth into a cohesive public memorial will be a difficult and unique challenge,” the foundation wrote in its Request for Expressions of Interest. “To address it successfully, the foundation is seeking fresh and creative ideas from a wide-ranging and diverse list of architects and designers from across the country.”