University News Last updated 27 October 2010
A Birmingham City University Graduate has struck gold by winning a national competition to design a commemorative coin celebrating the 2012 Olympics.
25 year-old Jonathan Olliffe, a BA and MA graduate from the School of Jewellery, designed two out of the 29 winning designs.
The challenge – set by the Royal Mint - was to design new 50 pence coins to commemorate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Jonathan’s winning designs – for gymnastics and aquatics - were picked from nearly 30,000 entries and the collection of each feature one of 29 sports on the reverse and have been designed by people from across the UK. He said: "I can't believe it! To think how many people entered the national competition and to have my designs made and circulated around the nation is very exciting.
‘When I saw the competition advertised I thought it was a great opportunity to use my skills as a designer and silversmith. To have the opportunity as a designer to collaborate with a company as prestigious as the Royal Mint is a truly one off experience and knowing that the two coins I have designed will be collected and be part of collections nationwide makes it very special.”
London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said: "Coins are a part of the fabric of our daily life, so to have a range of coins designed specifically to celebrate London 2012 is a huge honour, made all the more special by the fact that members of the public have designed them.
"The 50ps will be part of a long-lasting, wide-reaching cultural legacy that will benefit the entire nation and I'm looking forward to finding the first one in my change and collecting the entire range.”
Dave Knight, director of commemorative coins for the Royal Mint, added: ‘’every one of the winners is making history. Their coins will become treasured mementos of the biggest sporting event to happen on UK shores for over half a century and we hope will encourage a new generation of collectors.’’
The Royal Mint said that 87 million of the 29 special 50p coins would come into circulation over 2010 and 2011.
Notes to editors: photo credit - Porter Novelli PR Agency