Two Ukrainian commemorative coins are among the top 10 coins of the world, according to the results of the prestigious international Coin of the Year contest. The coins won in the Best Contemporary Event Coin and the Most Artistic Coin award categories.
More specifically, the 5 hryvnia nickel silver coin named "The 30th Anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence" won in the Most Artistic Coin category. This coin celebrates the adoption on 24 August 1991 of a historic document – the Act of Declaring Ukraine’s Independence – by the Ukrainian parliament.
The coin’s composition depicts Ukraine: Endless picturesque fields in the form of stylized ornaments over which storks fly, and a colored embroidered ribbon symbolizing the nation’s code, and resembling DNA.
This coin was designed by prominent Ukrainian artist Oleh Shupliak. His series of paintings called "Double Image" are widely popular. The coin was engraved by Volodymyr Atamanchuk, while its computer-aided design was done by Yurii Lukianov (both are employed by the NBU’s Banknote Printing and Minting Works).
The 10 hryvnia silver coin entitled "The 25th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Constitution" won in the Best Contemporary Event Coin category. This coin celebrates the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Ukrainian Constitution, which is the main source of national law and one of the anchors of Ukrainian identity. This constitution is a successor to Pylyp Orlyk’s constitution – an outstanding example of Ukrainian and European legal thought, which dates back to the 18th century, and which was one of the first constitutions in the world.
The coin’s composition shows a solved puzzle, the outlines of which consist of microtext containing quotes of some articles from the Ukrainian constitution, while human silhouettes on the coin symbolize the Ukrainian people.
This coin was designed by Kyiv artist Vladyslav Yarovyi, while its computer-aided design was done by Yurii Lukianov (employed by the NBU’s Banknote Printing and Minting Works).
The international Coin of the Year contest is held annually by World Coin News, an influential numismatic publication, with support from the Journal of East Asian Numismatics. This year, the contest was held for the 40th time. International experts chose winners among almost 2,300 coins from 40 countries, which were issued in 2021. At the first stage, the 100 best coins (10 coins in each of the 10 categories) were selected. Among these were seven Ukrainian coins.
"Ukrainian coins tell the world about our free and independent state, the right to existence and territorial integrity of which Ukrainians are now defending in battle," said Deputy NBU Governor Oleksii Shaban. "We are grateful to international experts for their attention to Ukraine and their high evaluation of Ukrainian commemorative coins. We value this greatly. We are proud of this victory and thank the artists who help us create coin works of art that have expressive and original designs and unique national themes."
Ukrainian coins have won in this international contest before in the Most Inspirational Coin category: in 2021, Ukraine won with the nickel silver commemorative coin named "The Frontline"; while in 2001, it won with the silver commemorative coin entitled "Christmas". Then in 2017 a Ukrainian nickel silver coin called "The Euromaidan" was among the finalists in the Most Artistic Coin category.