This year’s coveted Banknote of the Year Award has been jointly awarded to the National Banks of Kazakhstan and Georgia.
The award was announced by Reconnaissance during this year’s High Security Printing Europe conference in Romania on 15 March 2016.
The award recognises outstanding achievement in the design, technical sophistication and security of a banknote or banknote series, the key judging criteria being that successful banknotes should combine visual artistry and high levels of technical and security sophistication, with considerable emphasis placed on reflecting the cultural heritage of the issuing country in the note, and the relevance of the overall design and symbolism to the issuing country.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s 20,000 Tenge banknote was the first banknote to be announced, which had been issued by the country’s Central Bank in December 2015. It is the first banknote to be issued which is produced on Durasafe®, Swiss papermaker Landqart’s composite paper-polymer-paper substrate.
The note’s design incorporates the Kazakh Eli monument to Kazakhstan’s independence, the winged horse and the Mangilik El triumphal arch as well as a contour map of Kazakhstan, and a panorama of the capital, Almaty, on the reverse.
The note includes security features of OVI®, SPARK® and intaglio blind embossing as well as offset and intaglio printing methods. The design illustrates the Kazakh Eli monument to Kazakhstan’s independence as well as a winged horse and the Mangilik El triumphal arch.
Georgia
The award was shared with the National Bank of Georgia’s new series of Lari banknotes which are to be issued, consisting of the 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 denominations.
The design of the new series features Georgia’s cultural and historical heritage, as did the previous banknote series. The 50 and 100 notes incorporate the SPARK® security feature by SICPA, whereas the 5, 10 and 20 lari notes include optically variable ink. Holographic stripes are also used in the design of the notes.
To learn more about the winning banknotes and to read Reconnaissance’s press release in full, click here.
Images courtesy of the National Bank of Kazakhstan and Reconnaissance.
