CENTENARY

Design competition for Mauno Koivisto memorial now open

Portrait of the President Mauno Koivisto (1923-2017). Photo: Finnish Government.

The memorial committee invites all professional artists permanently residing in Finland to take part in the contest. Winners will be awarded a total of 55,000 euros.

A design competition has started to build a monument honoring former Finnish President Mauno Koivisto, the government communications department announced in a press release on Thursday 1 October.

The goal is for the winning design to be completed and put in place in the park outside the Little Parliament by 25 November 2023, when Finland will celebrate the centenary of Kovisto's birth.

The contest is being organised by the memorial committee appointed by the Prime Minister’s Office in December 2019, which is headed by Prime Minister Emeritus Paavo Lipponen.

The memorial committee invites all professional Finnish artists and professional foreign artists permanently residing in Finland to take part in the competition.

Timetable and prizes

The deadline for submitting a design is 15 April 2021. The results of the competition will be announced 1 September 2021.

The winners will be awarded a total of 55,000 euros, which will be divided as follows: first prize 20,000 euros; second prize 15,000 euros; third prize 10,000 euros. In addition, the prize committee may award two honourable mention prizes of 5,000 euros each.

An official memorial has been created to commemorate all former presidents of the Republic of Finland. The monuments are located in Helsinki and have been donated to the City of Helsinki upon their completion. The design competition for President Koivisto’s memorial continues this tradition.