A 5-hryvnia commemorative coin made of nickel silver, "To the 30th Anniversary of the Independence of Ukraine", has become the winner of the Best Coin 2021 open voting in all three nominations – the Best Explored Theme, the Best Artistic Solution, the Most Popular Coin.
This coin is dedicated to a milestone event that took place on 24 August 1991 when the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, adopted a historically important document – the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.
It is symbolic that the coin garnered the greatest response from Ukrainians at a time when their country has been defending its right to freedom and independence, shedding blood on the battlefield.
The coin depicts Ukraine endless picturesque fields stylized as ornaments with storks flying over them and has an image of a colored embroidered DNA-styled ribbon that symbolizes the nation's code.
Famous Ukrainian painter Oleh Shupliak created the sketch of this coin. A series of his paintings called "Dvovzory", the name given by the artist to his works in optical illusion with a double meaning (the reverse of the winning coin was created based on one of such paintings) gained wide popularity.
The engraver of the coin is Volodymyr Atamanchuk; computer-aided design was done by Yurii Lukianov (both are NBU Mint employees).
As a reminder, the Best Ukrainian Coin of the Year Competition has been held annually since 2005. This year the competition lasted from 20 June to 4 July 2022.
The winners of the Best Ukrainian Coin of the Year Competition for 2020 are as follows:
- the Best Coin of the Year award was given to the set of The Eneida commemorative coins. This is a set of nine 10-hryvnia silver coins. The designers of these winning coins are Volodymyr Taran, Oleksandr Kharuk, Serhii Kharuk; the engravers are Anatolii Demianenko, Roman Chaikovskyi, Volodymyr Atamanchuk; Vitalii Andriianov is the creator of the computer-aided design
- the Best Explored Theme award went to the commemorative coin The Frontline (a 5-hryvnia nickel silver coin). The designers of the coin are Nikita Titov (concept creator), Sviatoslav Ivanenko (engraver), Yurii Lukianov (computer-aided design).