And the Finalists Are … Three Finalists Selected from Dozens of Submissions to Gloucester’s 400th-Anniversary Medal Design Competition

The designer of GMG’s official logo, Beth Swan (the only Gloucester resident of the three finalists) is one of three finalists for the designer of the 400th Anniversary Medal Design Competition!

Beth was one of the first contributors to GMG in the early days and won the competition we held to design our logo. She is incredibly talented! Go Beth!

Here’s the press release-

 Gloucester Celebration Corporation, the official organizers of Gloucester, Massachusetts’ 400^th-anniversary celebration, today announced the three finalists in Phase I of the Commemorative Medal Design Competition. The finalists are:

 

• Alexis Chipperini, of Brighton, MA for “Call of the Storm”
• Beth Swan of Gloucester, MA  for “Out at Sea”
• Shannon Wilkins of Portland, ME, for “Gloucester: America’s Oldest Seaport”

 

Selected from over three dozen designs received from artists worldwide, each of these three artists will receive the $3,000 award for Phase I, and will move into Phase II of the competition.

 

“The sheer number of entries alone was challenging,” commented Roger Armstrong, head of the judging panel. “And, I think I speak for the rest of the judges when I say how difficult it was to make our selection from so many thoughtfully-created designs. In the end analysis, we felt each of the three finalists honor something that is ‘uniquely Gloucester’ with exceptional clarity and creativity.”

 

In addition to Mr. Armstrong, the judging panel included Ms. Joy Dai Buell, Ms. Janice Carragher Charles, Mr. Leon Doucette, and Mr. Ken Hruby. The judging panel conducted a blind review of all entries; i.e., the judges were not advised of names or addresses of any artists. Their review was based solely on the designs themselves and the artists’ descriptions of their designs.

 

“I would like to thank our panel of judges for how professionally and insightfully they reviewed every design submitted,” said Bruce Tobey, tri-chairperson of the Gloucester 400 steering committee. “I applaud both their hard work and the designs they selected.”

 

Phase II of the Competition

In Phase II, the final medal will be chosen by a second panel of judges from 3-dimensional renderings of each of the three finalists’ designs. The design selected to represent the city’s 400^th anniversary as its commemorative medal will then be minted in bronze and silver versions for purchase by Gloucester residents, collectors, and numismatists worldwide. In addition, the final artist will receive an award of $10,000.

 

Availability

Medals will be available for pre-order in February 2020. The first minting of the 400^th anniversary medallions will be available in the Spring of 2020. Proceeds from their sale will provide the chief source of funding for Gloucester’s 2023 celebrations and will provide residents with a memento of the Quadricentennial, help the city capture the priceless stories of the city’s 400-year history, and create new memories for storytellers to come.