A Closer Look at the IACA Award Finalists: Part 1

In the August issue of Coin & Mint News™, we provided a brief summary of the 11 finalists in the three categories of the 2026 IACA Excellence in Currency: Coin Awards. This month, we take a closer look at each of the finalists’ projects in the first category: Best New Circulating Commemorative Coin.

Royal Australian Mint

The Royal Australian Mint (RAM)’s ‘80 Years On: Remembering the Second World War’ $2 coloured circulating commemorative marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The coin pays tribute to the almost one million Australians who served during the conflict and the approximately 40,000 Australians who lost their lives.

At the centre of the coin’s reverse design is a remembrance wreath featuring eight coloured red poppies, each representing one of the eight decades that have passed since the war’s conclusion in 1945.