IBNS prepares to select its Banknote of the Year

By Arthur L. Friedberg

Published: Jan 31, 2016, 3 AM

The IBNS Banknote of the Year award is an initiative of the International Bank Note Society to recognize an exceptional bank note issued each year. Among the nominees for 2015 is Gambia’s 100-dalasi note.

Original image courtesy of Central Bank of The Gambia.

Among the nominations for the 2015 IBNS Banknote of the Year award is the 20,000-franc issue from Guinea. The note was released into circulation in 2015.

Images courtesy of Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea.

The IBNS Banknote of the Year award is an initiative of the International Bank Note Society to recognize an exceptional bank note issued each year.

The IBNS nomination period for the 2015 award ended Jan. 31 with at least 18 candidates, representing every continent. Nominations are accepted from the more than 2,000 IBNS members in good standing.

Requirements are, first, that the note must have been issued to the public and be in general circulation (specimens and noncirculating currencies are ineligible) for the first time during 2015 and, second, that it must have artistic merit, innovative security features or both.

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Among the nominated notes are: Argentina’s 50-peso note with the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, Burundi’s 2,000-franc note, the 5,000-escudo issue from Cape Verde, China’s 100-yuan note with a spaceflight motif, the new €20 note, Gambia’s 100-dalasi note, the 20,000-franc issue from Guinea, Israel’s controversial 200-new-sheqel note, Kazakhstan’s 20,000-tenge note, the 50,000-livre note of Lebanon, the Edmund Hillary $5 note from New Zealand, Russia’s 100-ruble issue celebrating its Crimean putsch, Clydesdale Bank of Scotland’s £5 note, Singapore’s $50 note, Sweden’s 20-kroner issue, Syria’s 1,000-pound note, and Ukraine’s 100-hrivnia note.

The winner will be decided by a vote of the IBNS that will consider artistic merit, design, use of color, contrast, and balance. The winner is announced at the first IBNS Board meeting in April. Images of all nominated issues may be seen at http://www.theibns.org.