This award went to the Banco de Guatemala (Banguat) for the 1 quetzal commemorative note issued to mark the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the national currency, named after the Resplendent Quetzal, the Central American country’s national bird.
The Q1 is only the second commemorative banknote in Banguat’s history, and the denomination has been brought out of retirement, having been replaced by a coin in 2012. It is similar in design to the previous editions of the note, but has been produced on paper rather than polymer and was printed by Giesecke+Devrient.
The note features a portrait of General José María Orellana, President of Guatemala from 1921 to 1926 who introduced monetary reform and oversaw the introduction of the quetzal. The key security feature is an octagonal varifeye® ColourChange patch, depicting the iconic arch of Santa Catalina in Antigua Guatemala. The patch is gold in reflected light, with a window on the reverse that appears in transparent blue when the note is held up to the light. When the banknote is rotated, a change between the years 1924 and 2024 is optically visible.