Bank of Canada is the winner of the International Bank Note Society Bank Note of the Year Award for 2018.
With over 150 new banknotes released worldwide during 2018, only 10% were of sufficiently new design to be nominated.
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Canada’s new vertically oriented $10 bill dominated the voting. The winning bank note of the year represents Bank of Canada’s first vertical format note.
The note is polymer, the fifth consecutive polymer containing note to win the Bank Note of the Year Award.
Canada’s $10 bill dominated the voting. In second place is Switzerland’s 200 Franc human hands note ahead of Norway’s 500 Kroner sailing ship bank note. A 100 Ruble soccer note from Russia and a 40 Dollar note from the Solomon Islands round off the top five.
Bank note of the year: celebrating Viola Desmond
The face of the note features the portrait of social justice icon Viola Desmond. The back of the bill depicts the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. Desmond fought for racial equality across Canada and is the first Canadian woman to appear on a bank note. Other women recognised on Canadian notes have all been members of the British royal family.
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By GlobalDataIn 1946, Desmond challenged racial segregation at a cinema in Nova Scotia by refusing to leave a whites-only area.
The note is printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company. Again, it uses the same distinct purple colour as the previous horizontal format $10 polymer note. This note is just fractionally larger than neighbouring US currency bills.
Canada plans to issue a new denomination every few years. The Bank of Canada says that the next four notes in this series will also use the vertical format.
Canada won the inaugural Bank Note of the Year Award in 2004. Moreover, it placed second three years in a row (2011, 2012 & 2013) and in third place last year.
