For only the second time since the “Bank Note of the Year” competition began in 2004, a Canadian banknote has taken home the honour of the world’s top piece of paper money.The voting membership of the International Bank Note Society (IBNS) chose the Bank of Canada’s latest $10 note – a vertically oriented bill featuring Nova Scotia businesswoman turned civil rights activist Viola Desmond – to receive its 2018 Bank Note of the Year Award.“Almost from the start, Canada’s new vertically oriented $10 bill dominated the voting, followed by Switzerland, Norway, Russia and the Solomon Islands banknotes,” reads a statement issued by the IBNS this April. “This is the fifth consecutive polymer-containing note to win the coveted IBNS Bank Note of the Year Award.” Continue reading →
The $10 bill featuring Viola Desmond is Canada’s first regularly circulating note to feature a woman, other than the reigning monarch and other members of the royal family, as a portrait subject. It’s also Canada’s first vertically oriented note.
