The American Society of Landscape Architects have chosen SWA Group’s design for Newtown’s Sandy Hook memorial garden for one of its annual “honor awards.”

The Clearing, as the memorial to the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 shooting is known, was chosen from 189 other submissions by a volunteer committee of town residents.

The site chosen by town officials was a former Little League baseball field next to the new Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The Sausalito, California-based SWA Group designed a garden in partnership with the committee and the young victims’ parents. Its curving paths converge on a memorial fountain on whose wall are inscribed the shooting victims’ names. The paths are surrounded by planting beds of locally-sourced, native perennials to enhance the site’s privacy and meditative qualities, and two ponds were restored to the site to attract wildlife.

Final planting design was done by Newtown firm Artemis Landscape Architects.