Celebrating the Best in Design and Innovation 13

The Regional Banknote of the Year Awards form part of the High Security Printing (HSP) EMEA conference. This year there were awards for Best New Banknote, Best New Series and Best New Commemorative Banknote, along with Best House Note and, for the first time, Best New Process or Technology.

Best New Banknote

The Central Bank of Libya received the Best New Banknote award for its new polymer 20 dinar, issued as part of an upgrade programme converting all notes to polymer to enhance the security and durability of the 2013 series.

Designed and printed by De La Rue on SAFEGUARD®, the new note features Enhanced GEMINI™ microtext, a holographic registered stripe, dual clear windows and SICPA’s SPARK®.

Best New Series

The Bank of Namibia and Bank of Zambia jointly received awards in the Best New Series category.

The Bank of Namibia received the award for its new Namibian dollar (N$) series, which was issued last year under the theme ‘Our Currency, Our Heritage, Our Pride – Meet the Next Generation of the Namibia Dollar’ The new series features both upgraded banknotes, the third generation since 1993 and the first redesign since 2011, and fully redesigned coinage. The new notes have the same motifs as the notes they are replacing but feature a refined and more modern aesthetic with richer colours, cleaner lines, and enhanced security features.