The General Council of the Riksbank has decided that the competition entry 'Cultural journey' will form the artistic basis for the design of Sweden's new banknotes. In April 2011, the General Council of the Riksbank decided on the motifs for the banknotes. After that a competition was launched to design the banknotes. A jury has been working on reviewing the entries received and has now chosen Göran Österlund's entry 'Cultural journey' as the winner.

'It has been a difficult but stimulating task to choose a winner. All of the entrants have presented ambitious and well-thought out proposals, but we finally decided on 'Cultural journey', says Peter Egardt, who is member of the General Council of the Riksbank and chairman of the competition jury. 'The overall impression is of a beautiful and user-friendly banknote series based on a fine balance of innovation and Swedish tradition.'

The jury's written decision states that this entry is a tightly cohesive series in which the different banknotes share a common idiom and the interplay of the face and reverse sides is unambiguous and harmonious. The jury also considers that the portraits take up a good-sized part of the face of each banknote and are well-suited for engraving. The reverse sides are clear and distinct and the motifs chosen seem typical of the relevant provinces.

The winning entry will be the artistic starting point for Sweden's new banknote series. This means that banknote designers will now adapt the winning proposal for finished banknotes. The banknotes will also be equipped with security features. The finished banknotes may therefore differ slightly from the winning proposal. The banknotes will probably be introduced in 2015.

To read the complete article, see:«Cultural journey» the winner of the Riksbank's design competition for the new Swedish banknotes(www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/4?&id=1185)