THE winning design for the sculpture which will be the centrepiece for the development at Fish Hill Square has been announced.

Students from Meridian School were invited to enter the competition, with lower-sixth form student Vicky Chapman’s design being voted winner at a ceremony on Monday.

Vicky’s design, a 15ft metal structure containing images from Royston’s past, was deemed the most suitable out of the 30 entrants by the judging panel.

Vicky said: “This is a real shock for me, and I really didn’t expect to win. It hasn’t sunk in yet and I don’t think it will until it is put up.

“My design was inspired by Royston’s past but I wanted to keep it modern too. I looked back on the history but realised to win it had to look striking.”

“It has a picture of the crow, the meridian line and the cross on the three bits of metal, with lights underneath to illuminate it.”

North Herts District Council (NHDC) and landscape architects BDP gave students the opportunity to come up with the design when they launched the competition in January.

Local sculpture Paul Bainbridge, who was on the judging panel and is a supporter of Royston Arts Festival, said: “Vicky followed the brief really well – it had to be fairly simple and connected to Royston. It is also modern and dynamic, and is a worthy winner.

“We had a difficult time in choosing the winner as the standard was so high, and there were ideas that could have been developed into lovely ideas that could be used all over the town.”

Cllr Fiona Hill, chairman of NHDC’s Royston Area Committee, who also sat on the judging panel said: “We were all extremely impressed by the high standards of designs that we received.

“Ultimately it was very hard to choose one winner out of so many excellent entries, but the panel felt that Vicky’s design was a modern concept that looked to the future of the town while incorporating elements of Royston’s rich history.”

The other shortlisted students were Alice Atkins, Kate Hutson, Jacob Iles, Esther Jackson, Amy Catton, Josh Tilmouth and Melody Causton.

The installation of the sculpture will be one of the finishing touches to the enhancement of the area, which is scheduled to begin in summer and be completed in autumn this year.