The Solomon Islands new $5 polymer banknote - printed on CCL Secure’s Guardian substrate - has been awarded a prestigious gold medal in Australia’s 2020 Print Industry Craftmanship Awards (PICA).
The award is in the Speciality category for printers who apply both new and current technologies in innovative or unique ways. Note Printing Australia (NPA) developed the winning design that reflects the island nation’s long term plans for economic sustainability in the fishing industry.
The design incorporates a yellowfish tuna and a traditional fishing hook to signal the importance of sustainability. A traditional spearfishing scene also underlines the social cohesion and community-building that can come from adopting sustainable fishing practices.
The note makes imaginative use of the inherent security capabilities of Guardian. It incorporates a feature known as SUSI Flip™ that uses two UV inks in combination to create a three colour design when viewed under a UV light.
The award has been warmly received by the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI). CBSI Governor Dr Luke Forau commented in The Solomon Star: “We are extremely pleased to hear that our new $5 polymer banknote has won a gold medal in the 2020 PICA. On behalf of CBSI, we would like to convey our sincere thanks to the team at NPA for pushing through. It was a great achievement.” “The Bank is pleased to have partnered with NPA, which has the technical know-how, to come up with such a strong technical feature as that of the SUSI Flip – the first of its kind,”
Dr. Forau added. The CBSI decided to move to polymer substrate after a comprehensive analysis showed that polymer banknotes would deliver a long-term cost saving to the Bank. Tim Berridge from CCL Secure added “We were honoured to work with the Central Bank of Solomon Islands and Note Printing Australia on this prestigious project. The note, designed and printed by NPA, is both beautiful and highly secure.”