The Winners of the COTY Award 2024

The United States is celebrating on home turf. Its American Liberty high relief $100 gold coin with the theme “Liberty Through Perseverance” was named the ultimate winner during a Coin of the Year (COTY) Awards ceremony held Aug. 8, 2024, in Rosemont, Ill., in partnership with the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money® convention.

The Coin of the Year program is an internationally conducted competition presented by World Coin News to recognize and encourage outstanding coin design and innovation worldwide. The 2024 program, sponsored by the World’s Fair of Money® and The Journal of East Asian Numismatics, honors coins dated 2023 in 10 categories of competition as decided by an international panel of judges.

The Winner

The winning coin’s obverse features a bristlecone pine, a species native to California, Nevada and Utah. It is thought to be one the oldest living organisms on Earth, living up to 5,000 years. Bristlecone pines grow in places where other plants cannot and are often the species that is first to repopulate the land after cataclysmic changes such as a lava run or glacial runoff. It was sculpted by Joseph Menna and designed by Elana Hagler.

The reverse design depicts a young bald eagle standing on a rocky outcropping moments before it takes flight. Artistic credit goes to John P. McGraw.

The coin is the sixth released in the United States Mint’s American Liberty series. Since its debut in 2015, the American Liberty Gold Coin and Silver Medal Program features coins and medals with modern depictions of allegorical Liberty on the obverse. The reverse features complementary eagle designs. The designs represent what liberty means to individual Americans, or collectively as a nation.

It also won the Best Gold Coin category. When it came to vying with the other category winners for the top spot, competition was tight.

“The final ballot for Coin of the Year in 2024 was so evenly distributed that the top five coins were separated by a margin of just 10 votes,” said Tom Michael, COTY co-coordinator. “However, there was no mistaking the strength of the ‘Liberty Through Perseverance’ $100 gold coin’s gracious design, as it surged past the next closest competitor by half of that spread.”

The 2024 COTY selection process began with a record number of submissions brought forth during the worldwide call for nominations at the beginning of the year. Nearly 600 coins were debated by the COTY Nominating Committee to select the COTY 100: 10 coins in 10 categories. An international panel of judges voted to determine the winner of each category, from which the COTY champion was named during a final vote.

“It is very exciting to watch the COTY process unfold,” said Maggie Pahl, COTY co-coordinator. “The best of the best in coin design and innovation rise to the top as the competition culminates with the final vote for the champion. The COTY team and I extend a sincere congratulations to all winners and a big thank-you to everyone who participated in making this year’s awards program possible.”

The List of the 41st COTY category winners:

Most Historically Significant Coin

Cameroon: 2,000 Francs CFA, Silver. Sumerian Civilization.

Best Contemporary Event Coin

Ukraine: 10 Hryvnias, Silver. The Courage to Be. UA.

Best Gold Coin

United States: 100 Dollars, Gold. Liberty Through Perseverance.

Best Silver Coin

Austria: 20 Euro, Silver. The Neutron Star.

Best Crown Coin

Cook Islands: 10 Dollars, Silver. Astrolabe.

Best Circulating Coin

China: 5 Yuan, Brass. Sheng Role – Chinese Peking Opera Art.

Best Bi-Metallic Coin

Austria: 25 Euro, Silver-Niobium. Global Heating.

Most Artistic Coin

Latvia: 5 Euro, Silver. Riga Fashion

Most Innovative Coin

France: 200 Euro, Gold. Pierre Hermé

Most Inspirational Coin

Canada: 50 Dollars, Silver. Allegory of Peace