At its session today, the Council of the Croatian National Bank, acting on the proposal of the Currency Committee, adopted the Decision on the final selection of the winning design of the national side of the Republic of Croatia on 1 euro circulation coin featuring the motif of the marten with the Croatian chequerboard in the background. This completed the new Open tender for the design of the national side of the Republic of Croatia on 1 euro coin featuring the motif of a marten with the chequerboard in the background launched by the Croatian National Bank on 14 February 2022.

The authors of the selected design for the national side of the Croatian 1 euro circulation coin featuring the motif of the marten and the chequerboard in the background are Jagor Šunde, David Čemeljić and Fran Zekan. Jagor Šunde is the author of the design concept of the winning design, while David Čemeljić and Fran Zekan are co-authors of the model of the design concept.

The author of the design concept of the second-ranked design for the national side of the 1 euro coin is Borislav Ljubičić and the author of the model of the design concept is Sven Ljubičić.

The author of the design concept and of the model of the design concept of the third-ranked design of the national side of the 1 euro coin is Meri Lucijeta Švragulja.

The authors of the first-ranked design were awarded 70 000 kuna for the design concept and 30 000 kuna for the model of the design concept. The authors of the second-ranked design were awarded 35 000 kuna for the design concept and 25 000 kuna for the model of the design concept, while the author of the third-ranked design was awarded 20 000 kuna for the design concept and 20 000 kuna for the model of the design concept.

Stages of the tender process

From the beginning until the end of the deadline for submission at 15.00 on 4 March 2022, the Croatian National Bank received a total of 192 postal items with designs, of which 135 were assessed in the first round of the tender.

In the first stage of the tender, the Commission for the Selection of Design Proposals for the National Side of the Republic of Croatia on the 1 Euro Circulation Coin (Selection Commission), comprising acclaimed Croatian artists and scholars, Petar Barišić, Tomislav Bilić, Tomislav Buntak, Dragan Damjanović, Tatijana Gareljić, Kažimir Hraste, Vatroslav Kuliš, Lazer Rok Lumezi and Ante Rašić, selected five designs without ranking them and presented them as proposals to the Currency Committee of the Croatian National Bank. The designs included both the design concept and the model of the design concept.

In the second stage of the tender, on 11 April 2022, the Currency Committee adopted the Decision on the selection of the winning design for the national side of the Republic of Croatia on 1 euro circulation coin.

Following the adoption of the Decision by the Selection Commission, the Croatian National Bank submitted the design concept of the winning design to the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and member states whose currency is the euro. Any member state whose currency is the euro may, within seven days following the submission of the draft design for the national sides of euro coins, in a reasoned opinion raise an objection to the submitted draft design if it assesses that draft design could create adverse reactions among its citizens.

On 20 April 2022, the Croatian National Bank received a notification from the Council of the European Union approving the submitted design concept of the winning design for the national side of the Republic of Croatia on the 1 euro circulation coin featuring the motif of the marten with the Croatian chequerboard in the background.

Following the receipt of the notification from the Council of the EU, the Currency Committee unanimously decided, in addition to the already selected first-ranked design, on the second- and the third-ranked designs in the third stage of the tender. As proposed by the Currency Committee, on 4 May 2022, the CNB Council adopted the Decision on the final selection of designs.

The euro circulation coin of 1 euro, as well as coins of other denominations, with the Croatian national side can start to be minted once the Council of the EU adopts a decision on the introduction of the euro in the Republic of Croatia.