Results of the public competition for the design of a €10 silver collector coin commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Andrej Sládkovič

Second prize and the design selected for the coin
Karol Ličko

Third prize
Mária Poldaufová

No first prize was awarded.

In November 2018 Národná banka Slovenska (NBS) announced a public competition for the design of a €10 silver collector coin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Andrej Sládkovič.

A total of 15 designs were entered in the competition, including two that were co-designed (there were 15 designers altogether). In March 2019 the designs were evaluated anonymously by NBS’s Committee for the Assessment of Commemorative and Collector Coin Designs. The Committee was assisted in its task by an expert adviser, Dr Martin Braxatoris from the Institute of Slovak Literature of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

On the Committee’s recommendation, a design by Karol Ličko was approved for the coin. The obverse depicts a floral arrangement that evokes the atmosphere of Sládkovič’s poetry and creates a silhouetted profile of Marina, the eponymous subject of his most famous work. At the base of the profile, along the lower side, are the name of the issuing country and year of issuance: ‘SLOVENSKO’ and ‘2020′. At the upper right side are the currency denomination and name: ‘10 EURO’. On the reverse, the dominant feature is a portrait of Andrej Sládkovič, which the Committee considered to be the most accurate of the likenesses depicted on the coins. The names ‘ANDREJ’ and ‘SLÁDKOVIČ’ appear in semicircle at the upper left and right sides. The dates of Sládkovič’s birth and death are inscribed, one above the other, between the portrait and surname, and his facsimile signature is placed in the lower part.

As regards the design by Mária Poldaufová, the Committee noted in particular the designer’s signature stylisation of the obverse and reverse. The obverse depicts an off-centre imagined portrait of Sládkovič’s poetic muse, Marina, framed by loose sheets of paper that are understood to represent pages from his works of poetry. The reverse features a central portrait of the poet and, in semicircle along the left side, the name ‘ANDREJ SLÁDKOVIČ’. The dates of his birth and death appear at the lower right.

An additional prize was awarded to Barbora Houfová and Radek Houf in recognition of the quality of their joint design.