London: Indian-born artist Anish Kapoor is the winner of a competition to create a fitting memorial to the 67 British victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, his studio said today (Dec 21, 2003).

A spokeswoman at the studio in London said, "We are very pleased to have been selected. But he does not want to comment until there is an official announcement."

An official announcement is expected to take some time.

Kapoor, who is behind some of the most extraordinary and massive sculptures of the past 25 years, has reportedly beaten designs by 11 other artists, including Sir Anthony Caro, Julian Opie, Antony Gormley and Richard Deacon, to emerge as the preferred choice of the influential expat community in New York.

The Unity Sculpture will form the centrepiece of a new British-themed garden at Hanover Square, near the site of the old Twin Towers in South Manhattan.

Its precise form remains under wraps but it has been described as "large", "stone" and "featuring reflective surfaces".

Given some of Kapoor's past projects, it is likely to be very large.

The Indian-born artist, who has lived and worked in London since the early 1970s, is one of contemporary art's key figures.

His work, which has been variously described as "mental" and "metaphysical", features in private and public collections around the world.