A child’s handprint designed by Wabash College sophomore John Vosel has been chosen as the monument to honor former Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard in a new Evansville park.

The Indiana State Bar Association Leadership Development Academy announced Thursday evening that Vosel’s design for the project won the Shepard Public Art Project competition. The LDA narrowed the finalists to two, the other being Mark Shaylor, a junior a Wabash College.

“I knew Randall T. Shepard really likes children and wanted children to be able to interact with the monument,” Vosel said in a news release, noting that the hand is actually a form of a painted child’s hand with rounded edges and a smooth texture for kids to safely run around.

Vosel and other students enrolled in an art course at the college created designs to enter the competition. They researched the former chief justice, city of Evansville and the Indiana Supreme Court before making their designs.

The monument will be placed in Bicentennial Park, which is set to open in Evansville this year. The project was initiated by the inaugural class of the ISBA’s Leadership Development Academy with the goal of creating an interactive piece of art to honor Shepard and allow children to play on it. Shepard is a native of Evansville.  

Vosel received a $2,000 scholarship and Shaylor received a $500 scholarship for their designs.