WINNERS ANNOUNCED for IACA’s 2026 Excellence in Currency Awards

We are happy to announce the WINNERS the final (3) of five (5) award categories in IACA’s 2026 Excellence in Currency Awards. JOIN US IN CONGRATULATING all our winners by commenting on this post! (you must be logged in!)

Marci Chavez, our Executive Director, announced the WINNERS on Wednesday afternoon, May 13 at the Banknote Conference in Washington, DC:

Best New Limited Circulation/Commemorative Banknote

WINNER: Papua New Guinea’s Commemorative 50 Kina Banknote honouring 50 years of independence and national currency. https://currencyaffairs.org/document/papua-new-guinea-commemorative-50-kina-banknote-honouring-50-years-of-independence-and-national-currency/

• Finalists:
  Central Bank of Sri Lanka Rs.2000 Commemorative Circulating Banknote
  https://currencyaffairs.org/document/central-bank-of-sri-lanka-rs-2000-commemorative-circulating-banknote/
• National Bank of Tajikistan 100 Somoni Commemorative Banknote https://currencyaffairs.org/document/national-bank-of-tajikistan-100-somoni-commemorative- banknote/

Best New Banknote Feature, Product or Process

WINNER: CCL Secure Guardian™ Enviro- A Polymer Banknote with Reduced Fossil Inputs  https://currencyaffairs.org/document/ccl-secure-guardian-enviro-a-polymer-banknote-with-reduced-fossil-inputs/

Finalists:

• CashTrax™ online counterfeit detection by Authentix®  https://currencyaffairs.org/document/authentix-inc-the-authentix-cashtrax/
• GemVision™ Camera System – industry’s first CDI2 fitness solution by Authentix® and Boulder Imaging https://currencyaffairs.org/document/authentix-and-boulder-imaging-id-644-gemvision-camera-system-industrys-first-cdi2-fitness-solution/

Best New House Note 

WINNER: STELLA – The Next Black Banknote of the EX NIHILO-Series by Bundesdruckerei GmbH and Team https://currencyaffairs.org/document/bundesdruckerei-gmbh-stella-the-next-black-banknote-of-the-ex-nihilo-series/

NOTE:  ALL the House Note nominations were voted on by the Banknote Conference delegates during the conference–in addition to our IACA Central Bank voting members –to determine the WINNER.

The Full list of the Best House Note Nominees were as follows:  (read about all these in our Awards Catalogue on the website:https://currencyaffairs.org/awards/)

• Cotton Cycles House Note by BlendPaper Security, Casa da Moeda do Brasil and Hueck Folien
• MEADOW 100 House Note by PWPW S.A. & LEONHARD KURZ Stiftung & Co. KG
• Cypher Evo House Note by Orell Füssli Ltd. Security Printing & Koenig & Bauer Vision and Protection
• RollingStar® Venus “Piano” House Note by Louisenthal
• Tree of Life – LEONHARD KURZ Stiftung & Co. KG and team
• BANCA D’ITALIA – BAN25NOTE-CONNECTIONS AND INTERACTIONS
• Crane Currency – The Beauty of Life
• Butterflies family by Oberthur Fiduciaire
• IN Groupe Moov™ security thread featured on KOMSCO 80th Anniversary Liberation House Note
• The Grizzly Note – Canadian Bank Note Company Limited
• CASA de Moneda 281 House Note
• SPARTAN™ Galapagos House Note by CCL Secure

Our other WINNERS recently announced at the Global Currency Forum are as follows:

Best Environmental Sustainability Project/Program

WINNER: Bank Indonesia for their Rupiah to Waste to Worth Collaboration Project https://currencyaffairs.org/document/bank-indonesia-rupiah-waste-to-worth-collaboration/

Finalists:

• CCL Secure – Circular Banknote Waste Management Support Program – Latin America https://currencyaffairs.org/document/ccl-secure-circular-banknote-waste-management-support-program-latin-america/
• SICPA’s – Implementation of a Product Sustainability Framework https://currencyaffairs.org/document/sicpa-implementation-of-a-product-sustainability-framework/

Best Cash Cycle Resiliency Program/Initiative

WINNER: National Bank of Poland’s National Strategy for Cash Circulation Security https://currencyaffairs.org/document/national-bank-of-poland-a-living-cash-resilience-framework-national-strategy-for-cash-circulation-security-as-a-model-for-central-banks/

Finalists:

• French National Cash Resilience Framework (FNCRF) https://currencyaffairs.org/document/banque-de-france-french-national-cash-resilience-framework-fncrf/
• South Africa Reserve Bank – OCARM Cash Cycle Resilience Program: From National Blackout Playbook to Sector Wide Exercising and Standing Crisis Governance  https://currencyaffairs.org/document/south-africa-reserve-bank-ocarm-cash-cycle-resilience-program/

ABOUT IACA’s AWARDS:  IACA’s Excellence in Currency Awards program was introduced in 2007 to promote and recognize excellence in banknote and coin production, processing, management, distribution, and related activities of the cash community.  It is the industry’s first awards program and remains highly respected and appreciated.

All nominated projects are evaluated and scored against the award criteria by the IACA Judging Committee, with the top three highest-scoring entries named as finalists. IACA voting members then determine the winners.

We are so thankful for our Judging Committee as follows: