…“We’re very ecstatic” – Governor General
The Bank of Guyana (BoG) on Wednesday won a regional award for its upgraded $5,000 bill at the High Security Print Conference in Nassau, the Bahamas.
One of the highlights of the regional conference, which was held from June 5 to 7, is the awards for the best banknotes and ID documents.
Guyana’s upgraded $5000 note, produced by Oberthur Fiduciaire, was named ‘Best New Banknote.’
It was explained that “Although the same design as its predecessor, the previous DualTrack™ thread on the reverse and holographic stripe on the front have been replaced with a 5mm wide Pulsar thread from Oberthur Fiduciaire. The note also benefits from the addition of a SPARK® Live Truspin image in the shape of a jaguar (Guyana’s national animal). The colour shift in both the SPARK feature and the thread are a synchronised gold-to-green.
“This is the first circulating note to feature the Pulsar colorshift thread, which was launched last year, and combines two colours with micro-optics to create dynamic movement, colour and optical effects.”
Following the announcement of the win, Governor General of the BoG, Dr Gobin Ganga, told Guyana Times that the win is a recognition of all the hard work that had gone into the design of the upgraded note.
“We’re very ecstatic to see the efforts that we have put in to a note, using the best technology we have available to ensure that we have a note that stands out and is very difficult to counterfeit,” Dr Ganga stated.
According to the Central Bank Head, prior to this award, Guyana had received the praises of many international printers on the design of the new $5000 bill, which was issued on December 20, 2022.
This is first time Guyana has won the regional award for its new series of bills. Last year, the $2000 note was submitted and shortlisted, but did not reach the final round.
Guyana’s upgraded $5000 note was the joint winner of the Best New Banknote award with Argentina’s 1,000 Pesos under the Banknote of the Year Award category.
According to its website, the regional ‘Banknote of the Year Award’ recognises outstanding achievement in the design, technical sophistication and security of a banknote or banknote series, the key judging criteria being that successful banknotes should combine visual artistry and high levels of technical and security sophistication with considerable emphasis placed on reflecting the cultural heritage of the issuing country in the note, and the relevance of the overall design and symbolism to the issuing country.
Hosted by Reconnaissance International, the High Security Printing conferences are annual events with a specific regional focus. They cover government-specified and issued documents, including currency, fiduciary documents, excise stamps, ID cards, e-passports, visas, vehicle documents and licences, with a particular emphasis on banknotes and emerging technologies for ID and travel documents.
Running in tandem with each event is a trade exhibition of 30-40 companies supplying technologies and systems for these sectors.
Reconnaissance held the first High Security Printing Latin America conference in July 2012 to address the needs, issues, challenges and opportunities for specifiers and producers of Government documents in the region. This was in recognition of Latin America’s growing importance – not just as a future economic powerhouse, but in the context of Government documents, as a market for high security printing. Many of the countries are becoming key innovators in specification, procurement and distribution – serving not only their own growing economies, but the wider region too.
This year’s conference in the Bahamas – Regional Forum for Secure Document Technologies – focused on the latest technologies and techniques in the production and issue of banknotes, ePassports, ID cards, visas, and other secure documents across Latin America.
The next HSP Latin America event will take place in Santiago, Chile in June 2024. (G8)
