IACA is pleased to announce the WINNERS for the 2026 Excellence in Currency: Coin Awards, recognizing excellence and innovation across the global coin community which were announced yesterday, September 29, at the COIN CONFERENCE in Budapest.
The Excellence in Currency: Coin Awards recognize outstanding achievements in circulating coin production, processing, management, distribution and related activities.
IACA’s judging committee determined our finalists from their independent review and scoring of all the nominations. The finalists in each category went on to the voting round by IACA’s voting members who determined our winners.
The WINNERS are as follows:
For Best New Circulating Commemorative Coin:
WINNER:
Australia’s $2 Poppy Wreath – 80th Anniversary of WWII — Royal Australian Mint https://currencyaffairs.org/document/royal-australian-mint-australias-2-poppy-wreath-80th-anniversary-of-wwii/
Finalists:
Commemorative Coins for the 2026 FIFA World Cup — Bank of Mexico https://currencyaffairs.org/document/banco-de-mexico-mexico-commemorative-coins-for-the-2026-fifa-world-cup/
— Reopening of Notre-Dame €2 — Monnaie de Paris https://currencyaffairs.org/document/monnaie-de-paris-reopening-of-notre-dame-2e-commemorative-coin/
— 50th Anniversary of the 1976 Youth Uprising — South African Reserve Bank / South African Mint https://currencyaffairs.org/document/south-african-reserve-bank-south-africas-50-years-anniversary-of-the-1976-youth-uprising-commemorative-coin/
— Peking Opera Art Series Circulating Commemorative Coin — The People’s Bank of China / China Banknote Printing & Minting https://currencyaffairs.org/document/the-peoples-bank-of-china-peking-opera-art-series-circulating-commemorative-coin/
For Best New Coin Product, Process or Manufacturing Innovation
WINNER:
Trimetallic Coins for BEAC — Monnaie de Paris https://currencyaffairs.org/document/monnaie-de-paris-trimetallic-coins-for-beac/
Finalists:
—Graphite-like Coating (GLC) Technology in Coin Dies — China Banknote Printing and Minting https://currencyaffairs.org/document/china-banknote-printing-and-minting-corporation-graphite-like-coating-glc-technology-in-coin-dies/
— Implementation of Precision Laser Technology to Engrave Tooling — United States Mint https://currencyaffairs.org/document/united-states-mint-implementation-of-precision-laser-technology-to-engravetooling-for-over-30000-work-dies-per-year/
— Trimetallic Coins for BEAC — Monnaie de Paris https://currencyaffairs.org/document/monnaie-de-paris-trimetallic-coins-for-beac/
For Best New Coin Recirculation/Distribution Program or Initiative
WINNER:
Changebox for Coin Recirculation — UK Changebox Ltd. https://currencyaffairs.org/document/uk-changebox-ltd-changebox-for-coin-recirculation/
Finalists:
Bio-based Plastic Innovation for Coin Packing and Distribution — Monnaie de Paris https://currencyaffairs.org/document/monnaie-de-paris-bio-based-plastic-innovation-for-coin-packing-and-distribution/
— Foreign Currency Fundraising — Global Coin Solutions https://currencyaffairs.org/document/global-coin-solutions-foreign-currency-fundraising/
IACA is grateful to Coin & Mint News, organizer of the Coin Conference, for its sponsorship of the Awards and continued support in providing a platform to recognize excellence across the coin community.
IACA also extends a BIG thank you to our Judging Committee, whose members undertook the important task of reviewing and scoring the nominations against the established award criteria:
Mark Cartwright — Executive Director, Mint Directors Association
Tomasz Jagielinski – President/CEO of NXTGenDetect
Dieter Merkel — ICA Board Member, Convenor + Chair of World Money Forum, and former Director of Global Minting, Andritz Schuler Pressen GmbH
Andrew Mills — Circulating Coin Strategy Advisor and former Managing Director of Currency for The Royal Mint
Astrid Mitchell — Chief Executive, Reconnaissance International
Lydia Yip — Advisor to Central Banks and former Head of Currency, Hong Kong Monetary Authority
Congratulations to our WINNERS and our finalists!
