Award Winning Coins
EXCELLENCE BY DESIGN
The Royal Canadian Mint is recognized worldwide for the technological innovation and exquisite detail of its coins. Both at home and abroad, our products are widely respected as the standard in minting today. But you needn't take our word for it — the many awards our coins have garnered speak for themselves.
Most Inspirational Coin
41st Coin of the Year Awards (2024)
Product: 2023 Pure Silver Coin – Allegory of Peace
The Mint’s R+D Team devised an innovative reverse and obverse for the 2023 Pure Silver Coin – Allegory of Peace, by suspending a three-dimensional winged figure of Peace within the coin’s outer ring. The absence of a field surrounding the miniature sculpture of Peace allows it to be viewed from both the sides of the coin. The gold-plated figure, symbolizing Canada’s longstanding commitment to peace, is flanked by an outer ring crafted in pure silver with an antique finish, featuring a motif composed of doves carrying an arrangement of olive and maple leaf branches.
2023 Best New Circulating Coin or Coin Series
Excellence in Currency Awards by the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA)
Product: Black Nickel-Plated $2 Circulation Coin Honouring Queen Elizabeth II
To honour the late Queen Elizabeth II following her passing after 70 years as Canada’s Monarch, the Royal Canadian Mint added an innovative black nickel-plating to the outer ring of its 2022-dated $2 bi-metallic circulation coin. This world-first technology, applied as a way to evoke the appearance of a mourning armband, captured the hearts and minds of Canadians who flocked to public coin exchanges to collect this unique piece of Canadian royal history.
Most Innovative Coin
40ᵗʰ Coin of the Year Awards (2023)
Product: 2022 5 oz. Pure Silver Coin – Canadian Ghost Ship
The Mint applied its proprietary black light-activated colour technology to vividly bring to life artist Neil Hamelin’s illustration of the tale of the ghost ship, a haunting apparition of a three-masted ship whose sails appear to be ablaze. Fishermen of old on Canada’s east coast claim to have seen the vision and set out to sea to attempt rescue, only to have the mysterious ship suddenly vanish. The glowing image of the ghost ship, emerging before fishermen setting out in a dory on a stormy night, is revealed when a black light is shined on the reverse.
Best Coin Design Silver Medal
CoinWeek Coin Design Awards
Product: 2023 Fine Silver Puzzle Coin Set - The Celestial Circle
Designed by Ts’msyen artist Morgan Asoyuf, the assembled puzzle pieces of this gold-plated fine silver coin depict the celestial circle, which permeates all aspects of life on the Northwest Coast, home to the Ts’msyen Nation.
In the artist’s own words: “Working with the design ideas of gold and matte black colours, I immediately thought of the sun and moon, and the way celestial bodies have influenced Northwest Coast culture through tales of the heavens and supernatural beings. I wanted a visual design that shows the way the sun and moon are interconnected, as well as an ancestor-descendant relationship with the coastal animals”.
2023 Best Crown
Coin of the Year Award
Coin: 2021 $20 Fine Silver Coin - Black and Gold: The Grey Wolf
Artist Claude Thivierge captured the feared and admired personality of a top Canadian predator in a yin and yang portrayal, rendered in contrasting gold and black rhodium plating. Though human encroachment has reduced its habitat, the majestic grey wolf still thrives in hierarchical packs of six or eight animals in less settled parts of Canada, from Labrador to British Columbia, as well as Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
2023 Best Circulation Coin
Coin of the Year Award
Coin: 2021 Ten-Cent Coloured Commemorative Circulation Coin – 100th Anniversary of Bluenose
Bluenose’s 100th anniversary in 2021 gave the Mint the opportunity to celebrate in style with the help of Nova Scotia marine artist Yves Bérubé who re-imagined the Bluenose design that had graced Canada’s 10-cent circulation coin since 1937. It was also the very first time we added colour to our smallest circulating coin.
A peerless maritime icon built in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Bluenose was a hard-working fishing schooner whose racing proficiency in the International Fishermen’s Race was unrivalled for nearly two decades. It remains, to this day, a testament to the ingenuity, craftsmanship and exceptional skill of the Canadians who designed, built and crewed it.
2019 Best New Coin Product, Feature or Distribution Innovation
Excellence in Currency Awards by the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA)
Category: Best New Coin Innovation
In launching a new line "R+D Lab" coins featuring experimental innovations, we introduced a tri‑metal token that consists of a brass plated steel ring, with an inner core of nickel plated steel and copper‑plated steel on the opposite side. With a complex arrangement of multiple materials, this token combines the most advanced overt and covert security features, including differentiated electromagnetic signatures in vending equipment.
2018 Most Inspirational Coin
Krause Publications Coin of the Year Awards
Coin: 2016 $20 Pure Silver Coin – Mother Earth
Designed by Canadian artist Alexandra Lefort, this 99.99% pure silver coin features a 3D droplet with an inset full‑colour image of Earth, conveying the importance of water to all life on this planet. The space around the water droplet brings the design's focus to Canada. The diverse fauna and flora flourishing on our land, in our sky, and in our waters are delicately engraved around the water droplet.
2017 Best New Communications Program (Circulating Coins)
Excellence in Currency Awards by the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA)
Coin: Canada 150 Commemorative Circulation Coins
In 2015, we launched a national contest inviting the public to create new designs for a 2017 circulation coin series celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary from five theme perspectives: Our Wonders, Our Character, Our Achievements, Our Passions, and Canada's Future. After Canadians cast over one million online votes, five individual winners were selected. Each 2017‑dated circulation coin denomination featured one of their designs. The coins entered circulation in May 2017 and we used this national celebration to launch the world's first glow‑in‑the‑dark circulation coin to bring to life the northern lights design of three million two‑dollar coins.
2017 Most Historically Significant Coin
Krause Publications Coin of the Year Awards
Coin: 2015 1 oz. Pure Silver Coin – 100th Anniversary of In Flanders Fields
Designed by Canadian artist Laurie McGaw, the reverse of this silver coin evokes the opening lines of John McCrae's poem, In Flanders Fields: "In Flanders fields the poppies blow; Between the crosses, row on row; That mark our place…". With his helmet removed and head bent in mourning, a lone Canadian soldier stands before a makeshift gravesite for fellow soldiers who were killed in battle. Their final resting place in the Belgian fields near the Ypres salient inspired McCrae's haunting poem that gave birth to the annual Remembrance Day tradition, observed across Canada every November 11.
2017 Best Silver Coin
Gold Chervonets Magazine Coin Constellation Awards
Coin: 2016 Five Kilogram Pure Silver Coin – Charles Edenshaw: Argillite Chest
Working in consultation with Haida artist James Hart, our engravers painstakingly recreated the central panel of a historic argillite box carved by Charles Edenshaw in 1882 in five kilograms of 99.99% pure silver. The reverse design features a lion with a human‑like nose and chin. Two hands flank the face, which appears to emerge from a cave. The intricate background contains a wealth of Haida forms, as well as detailed negative space cross‑hatching—all characteristic of Edenshaw's work.
2016 Best Crown Coin
Krause Publications Coin of the Year Awards
Coin: 2014 1 oz. Pure Silver Coin – Maple Canopy: Autumn Allure
This coloured silver coin designed by artist Emily Damstra is a breathtaking perspective of maple trees in their autumn splendor. The dynamic illustration begins at the base of three trees and leads the eye upwards towards the magnificent canopies which are enhanced in vivid hues of orange, yellow and gold. A branch in the foreground provides the added perspective to bring the maple leaf's distinctive shape into view.
2015 Best New Commemorative or Test Circulating Coin
Excellence in Currency Awards by the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA)
Coin: 50‑Cent 100th Aniversary of Anzac Commemorative Circulation Coin (New Zealand)
Produced by us for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and NZ Post, this coin was the first in the world to feature the our new high‑speed pad‑printed colouring technology. Commemorating the founding of the joint Army corps formed by New Zealand and Australia during the First World War, it features two soldiers standing back to back, with heads bowed in remembrance of their fallen comrades. A hammerhead shark motif and a silver fern are painted in intricate detail that could never have been possible before we developed this technology for colouring circulation coins.
2015 Most Inspirational Coin
Krause Publications Coin of the Year Awards
Coin: 2013 $3 Pure Silver Coin – Fishing
Designed by Canadian artist John Mantha, this 99.99% pure silver coin depicts an idyllic scene of a father and child sitting on a dock with their fishing line bobbing in the water as they and their loyal dog calmly wait for the fish to bite. This iconic vision of Canadian summers is brought into beautiful contrast by the delicate frosting of the central design over a mirror‑like proof background.
2014 Most Innovative Coin
Krause Publications Coin of the Year Awards
Coin: 2012 25‑Cent Prehistoric Animals – Pachyrhinosaurus Lakustai
A global phenomenon when it launched in March 2012, this cupro‑nickel collector coin was the world's first‑ever photo‑luminescent coin. Based on the discovery of a new species of dinosaur from a fossil found in the province of Alberta, a painted image of a living Pachyrhinosaurus Lakustai on a cupronickel coin cleverly disguised the skeleton of this prehistoric animal which brightly glowed only once the coin was placed in darkness. Subsequent releases in this "glow‑in‑the‑dark" series have all rapidly sold out.
2013 Best New Coin Innovation
Excellence in Currency Awards by the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA)
Category: Best New Coin Innovation
Coin: Multi‑ply plated steel $1 and $2 circulation coins
We developed visible and covert security features for our new generation of $1 and $2 circulation coins. These include a laser mark micro‑engraving on the reverse (or tails side) of both coins and Digital Non‑destructive Activation (DNA) technology, by which the surface structure of each coin can be read like a fingerprint and checked against a database of all $1 and $2 coins produced by us since 2012. The $2 circulation coin also features a shifting virtual image on its reverse, as well as edge‑lettering.
2012 Coin of the Year
Sixth International Commemorative Coins Contest "Coin Constellation – 2012"
Category: Coin of the Year
Coin: 2012 $300 Pure Gold Coin with Diamond – The Queen's Diamond Jubilee
2012 Most Historically Significant Coin
Krause Publications 2012 Coin of the Year Awards
Category: Most Historically Significant
Coin: 2010 $100 Gold Coin – 400th Anniversary of Hudson Bay
2011 Most Artistic
Krause Publications 2011 Coin of the Year Awards
Category: Most Artistic
Coin: 2009 $300 Gold Coin – Summer Moon Mask
2011 Best Silver Coin
Krause Publications 2011 Coin of the Year Awards
Category: Best Silver Coin
Coin: 2009 Pure Silver Crystal Snowflake
2010 Most Inspirational Coin
2010 World Money Fair – Presented by Krause Publications
Category: Most Inspirational Coin
Coin: Pure Gold Kilo "Towards Confederation"
Theme: Canadian Heritage
2010 Best New Series
2010 Excellence in Currency Awards – Presented by IACA
Category: Best New Series
Coin: Vancouver 2010 Circulation Program
Theme: 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics
2008 Coin of the Year and Most Innovative Coin
2008 World Money Fair – Presented by Krause Publications
Category: Coin of the Year and Most Innovative Coin
Coin: Big and Little Bear Constellations Coins
Theme: Constellations
2008 Most Inspirational Coin
2008 World Money Fair – Presented by Krause Publications
Category: Most Inspirational Coin
Coin: Pink Ribbon Coin
Theme: Ribbon of Hope
2007 Best Coin of the Year
International Association of Currency Affairs
Category: Best Coin of the Year
Coin: 25‑Cent Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Coin
Theme: Creating a future without breast cancer
2002 Coin of the Year
Asia Money Fair
Category: Most Popular Coin
Coin: Commemorative Set – Five Blessings
Theme: Asian symbols
2002 Coin of the Year
World Coin News
Category: Best Gold Coin
Coin: $200 22‑Karat Coin – Mother and Child
Theme: Mother and Child, designed by Germaine Amaktoyauk
Mint Directors' Conference 2000
Category: Most Technologically Advanced Coin
Coin: 20‑Dollar Coin Featuring a Hologram Cameo
Theme: Transportation
2000 Coin of the Year
World Coin News
Category: Most Popular Coin
Coin: Silver Dollar – 125th Anniversary of the RCMP (1998)
Theme: The RCMP
1999 International Hologram Manufacturers Association
Category: Excellence in Holographic Product
Coin: Gold Bullion Maple Leaf – 20th Anniversary Maple Leaf Coin
Theme: Maple Leaf
1998 Most Popular Coin
World Coin News
Category: Most Popular Coin
Coin: 2‑Dollar Circulation Coin
Theme: Polar Bear
1998 Coin of the Year
World Coin News
Category: Best Gold Coin
Coin: 100‑Dollar 14‑Karat Gold Coin (1997)
Theme: Alexander Graham Bell
1997 Coin of the Singapore International Coin Show
Category: Best Coin
Coin: 200‑Dollar 22‑Karat Gold Coin
Theme: Haida Contemporary Art
1996 Coin of the Year
Münzen Magazin
Category: Best Coin
Coin: 100‑Dollar 14‑Karat Gold Coin
Theme: Klondike
1994 Coin of the Year
Münzen Magazin
Category: Best Coin
Coin: 200‑Dollar 22‑Karat Gold Coin
Theme: Anne of Green Gables
1993 Coin of the Year
World Coin News
Category: Best Gold Coin
Coin: 100‑Dollar 14‑Karat Gold Coin
Theme: Antique Autos
1989 Coin of the Year
World Coin News
Category: Best Silver Coin
Coin: 1‑Dollar Sterling‑Silver Coin
Theme: Mackenzie River Bicentennial
1988 Coin of the Year
World Coin News
Category: Best Silver Coin
Coin: 1‑Dollar Sterling‑Silver Coin
Theme: Davis Strait – 400th Anniversary
1986 Coin of the Year
World Coin News
Category: Best Gold Coin – Most Historically Significant
Coin: 100‑Dollar 22‑Karat Gold Coin
Theme: Jacques Cartier – 450th Anniversary of the Voyage of Discovery
1985 Coin of the Year
World Coin News
Coin: 20‑Dollar Olympic Coin
Theme: 1988 Winter Olympic Downhill Skier