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Results of the public anonymous competition for the design of a 10-euro silver collector coin featuring the World Natural Heritage – Primeval beech forests of the Carpathians

Reduced first prize and the selected design
Karol Ličko

Reduced first prize and the selected design Reduced first prize and the selected design

Third prize
PhDr. Kliment Mitura

Third prize Third prize

Reduced third prize
Mária Poldaufová

Reduced third prize Reduced third prize

In December 2013 Národná banka Slovenska (NBS) announced a public anonymous competition for the design of a 10-euro silver collector coin featuring the World Natural Heritage – Primeval beech forests of the Carpathians. This unique site spanning the Slovak-Ukrainian border, together with the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany, has been included in the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List. Ten designs by nine designers were entered in the competition. In February 2014 the entries were judged by the Committee for the Assessment of Designs for Commemorative Coins and Collector Coins. The expert advisors to the Committee were RNDr. Jana Durkošová, representative of the Slovak Ministry of Environment, and Ing. Marián Gič, representative of the Poloniny National Park Administration.

Based on the expert Committee’s recommendation a design by Karol Ličko, which won a reduced first prize, was approved for the coin by the NBS Bank Board. The Committee praised the consistency in the approach to both the obverse and reverse as well as the harmony of their composition. In the opinion of both the Committee and the expert advisors, both sides of the design best evoked the theme in terms of their content and artistic aspect. The obverse depicts typical beech trunks and their root system with typical fauna – a northern lynx. The reverse shows a motif with a rotting beech and fir trunks, symbolising the life cycle in the primeval beech forest ecosystem.

A second prize was not awarded in the competition, since with other designs the Committee praised only one of their sides. A third prize was awarded to PhDr. Kliment Mitura. His design was found interesting for the high thematic and sculptural quality of its obverse. The author depicted a beech trunk together with a new growing forest. The composition includes a typical species of the ecosystem – the Black Woodpecker. However, the Committee found the reverse side featuring a wolf with cub to be not on par with the thematic and artistic qualities of the obverse.

A reduced third prize was awarded to the medal maker Mária Poldaufová. Her design also stood out for only one side – the reverse – which was considered to be the clearest depiction of the topic. The designer depicted the primeval forest life cycle represented by young beech trunks, nuts and rotting wood accompanied by the blossom of a typical plant of beech forests – Dentaria glandulosa. The Committee found the obverse side to be less successful and expressed comments on the fauna depicted as well as the composition.