By Dave GooderhamA SERIES of sculptures designed to explain the impact of coastal erosion is among the front-runners for a new landmark for East Anglia.

By Dave Gooderham

A SERIES of sculptures designed to explain the impact of coastal erosion is among the front-runners for a new landmark for East Anglia.

The German team behind the Dunwich project is among the favourites to land a share of £250,000 to turn their vision into reality.

They will be keeping their fingers crossed that judges will choose the project - rebuilding the six major churches of Anglo-Saxon Dunwich as offshore steel sculptures - when they announce their final decision for the Landmark East Project today.

A panel of 12 judges listened yesterday to a presentation and grilled designers about the projects at the Millennium Grandstand in Newmarket.

Anthea Case, chairman of the judging panel, will announce today up to three winners to share the prize to develop and assess the feasibility of their projects.

She said: “The judges were looking for inspirational ideas with the potential to become a major landmark for the East of England - ideas which could inspire a sense of pride, generate significant economic benefit and really put the region on the map, both nationally and internationally.”

The project attracted more than 200 entries from across Britain, as well as America and Australia.

The idea for Landmark East was born from research commissioned by the East of England Development Agency that showed a weak sense of identity within the region.

East of England Development Agency board member, Yasmin Shariff, who is leading the project, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for us to come together as a region and decide how we want to present the East of England to the rest of the world.

“It is great to know the competition has captured the imagination of so many people.”

dave.gooderham@eadt.co.uk