Coin of the Year Presents the 2025 COTY 100
From bold designs to historic themes, 2025’s COTY finalists celebrate the best in global coin artistry.
The process for the 2025 Coin of the Year (COTY) awards began in early January with a worldwide call for nominations. From roughly 7,000 coins released in 2024, mints, banks, and enthusiasts submitted nearly 550 for consideration.
A nominating committee then narrowed this number into the COTY 100, which contains 100 2024-dated candidates from 38 countries. Over 35 mints and central banks are represented in this group.
This selection features 10 outstanding coins in 10 specific categories. Voting has already commenced, and our panel of over 100 judges is casting ballots designed to select one coin in each category as a winner.
A second round of voting by that same expert panel will then choose one of those 10 category winners as the overall Coin of the Year, the best of the best for 2024-dated issues.
The COTY champion will be honored with the other category winners at the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money on August 19-23, 2025, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at the Oklahoma City Convention Center. We welcome you to attend that ceremony and hope you enjoy the 2025 COTY Awards.
The following are the COTY 100. COTY Coordinator Sophia Mattimiro shares her thoughts on the nominated coins in each of the 10 COTY categories:
The nominating committee noted the judges' love for the Art Mint's "Ancient Civilizations" series. The "Sumerian Civilization" coin won the Most Historically Significant category in 2024, so it's no surprise that the next in the series, the "Indus Valley Civilization," also made it into the category.
The Best Contemporary Event category sparked plenty of debate within the nominating committee, but the Bank of Greece's "Martyred Villages and Towns" coin was an easy selection. The committee has the challenging task of placing coins where they have the best chance, and this coin, with its beautifully designed and heart-wrenching theme, is a strong contender.
This category always generates a lot of debate within the committee. Mints put their best foot forward when it comes to creating gold masterpieces. The committee would benefit from a category of twenty instead of 10 to make their job easier, but that would make it much harder for the judges' panel.
The "Cabbage" coin made by the Latvian Mint is a fun coin with significant meaning. In Latvian culture, cabbage represents wealth and fertility. Perhaps it could also symbolize a 2025 COTY winner.
The Best Crown category can be tricky because of the size restrictions. However, this category's specialty also allows some stunning coins to shine, such as the Royal Canadian Mint's "Grizzly Bear" coin.
Although many coins in circulation favor function over design, the selections in this category blend the two seamlessly. Such an example can be seen with the Royal Mint's 50 pence, which celebrates 200 years of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and its lifesaving work.
The Austrian Mint has dominated the Best Bi-Metallic category in recent years with its silver-niobium coins. It remains to be seen if the Mint will keep its winning streak, but its "Edaphon" coin will be tough competition.
This category can be hard to predict. What one views as art is not universal. The committee was torn on the National Bank of Ukraine's "Pliontanism" coin, but not for its artistic merit. Instead, the fierce debate was whether it would be better suited to the Artistic or Inspirational categories. It seems art can be inspirational.
Who remembers the floppy disk? This media innovation shaped today's disk storage technology, and it is now a coin that brings nostalgia to collectors…and the nominating committee.
Looking for inspiration? All of the coins in this category got the nominating committee thinking. Coins in this category highlight inspiring issues like the fight against cancer, the joy of parenting, and even love, as seen with the bi-metal, heart-shaped 80 yuan from China's "Auspicious Culture" series.
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