A Canadian $10 bill has won the top prize in an international banknote competition.

The bill, featuring Canadian civil rights activist Viola Desmond, beat 15 other banknotes to win the International Bank Note Society award.

The Bank of Canada won the award over new currency issued by Switzerland, Norway, Russia and the Solomon Islands.

The new vertical format bill dominated the voting at the awards, said the International Bank Note Society in a release.

"Incorporating the latest in technological standards, the bold security features are easy to check and difficult to counterfeit," the release said.

The organisation considers the artistic merit, design, use of colour, contrast, balance and security features of each nominated bank note.

There were 150 new bank notes released worldwide last year, though only 10% "were of sufficiently new design" to be nominated for the award.

To read the complete article, see:
Canada's Viola Desmond note wins international banknote competition(https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48071926)

Canada's $10 bill has had a bit of a face-lift. The iridescent purple note, issued in November of last year, is the only one so far to feature either a person of color or a non-royal woman. What's more, it's vertical.

If the note looks a little unusual to you, you're not alone. Its orientation is relatively uncommon among banknotes, though the format has been used before in countries including Bermuda, Switzerland, Colombia, and Venezuela.

Whether or not that's true, the Bank of Canada's decision was not based on any particular technical reason, a spokesperson told Quartz. Instead, she said, the change is "essentially because it's a good way to really put forward and frame the portrait of Viola Desmond...

In addition to making her picture stand out, the vertical orientation was "a good way to distinguish it" from earlier notes, the bank spokesperson said. With each new set of banknotes, "we try to innovate."

To read the complete article, see:
Behind the vertical design of Canada's award-winning $10 bill(https://qz.com/1610724/why-canadas-new-award-winning-10-bill-is-vertical/)