'Let's design a banknote' competition for schools - Award Ceremony 2025-2026

15 May 2026

On Friday 15 May, the award ceremony of the 13th edition of the 'Let's design a banknote' competition for schools, promoted by Banca d'Italia and the Ministry of Education and Merit, was held in Rome at the Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Conference Centre.

The event was attended by Chiara Scotti, Deputy Governor of Banca d'Italia, and Massimo Doria, Director General for Human Resources, Information and Banknote Production of Banca d'Italia, who greeted the finalists and awarded prizes to the winning classes.

A total of 965 schools took part in this edition, almost one third more than in 2025. Out of the total, 291 were primary schools, 310 lower secondary schools and 364 upper secondary schools. Among them, 12 were Italian schools abroad. The theme of this year's edition was 'The new face of the euro: identity, nature and culture for the future', inviting students to reflect on the symbolic value of money, understood not only as a means of exchange but also as a vehicle of cultural identity, financial education and social awareness.

As in previous editions, the first selection phase was held at a decentralized level, based on regional groupings. Six juries, based at Banca d'Italia's branches in Turin, Bologna, Ancona, L'Aquila, Naples and Catanzaro, examined the sketches submitted by schools in their respective areas and selected 54 entries (18 for each school level) for the next stage. The 54 schools that had submitted a design were awarded a prize of €2,000 to be spent to support and develop educational activities.

For the second selection phase, a panel of experts from Banca d'Italia's Banknotes Directorate was formed. The panel examined the sketches selected by the local juries as well as the 12 sketches from Italian schools abroad and drew up a shortlist of nine finalist classes.

On Friday 15 May, the nine finalists presented their work to a final jury that nominated three prize winners. Each winner received a prize of €10,000, while the other six finalists were awarded €2,500 each to support educational activities.

The final jury was chaired by Luigi Managò, Head of Banca d'Italia's Banknotes Directorate. Its other members were Ambra Esposito, Head of Office III - Area of psycho-physical and social wellbeing, transversal education and legality at the Ministry of Education and Merit; Valerio De Seta, Chief Engraver at the School of Medal Art of the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato; Michele Carofiglio, Head of Banca d'Italia's Financial Education Directorate; and Monica Fusaro, Head of Banca d'Italia's Gold Reserves Division.

The winner in the primary schools category was the Istituto Comprensivo Santo Calì - Scuola Primaria Pietro Scuderi - Linguaglossa (Catania).
The winner in the lower secondary schools category was the Istituto Comprensivo Sansepolcro - Plesso Buonarroti-Pacioli - Sansepolcro (Arezzo).
The winner in the upper secondary schools category was the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Alberti-Dante, Florence.

As in previous years, there were two additional prizes. The first, reserved for Italian schools abroad, was awarded to the drawing submitted by the Istituto Italiano Statale Comprensivo Leonardo Da Vinci, Paris (France), which received a prize of €2,500; this award was presented by Simone Bolla, Officer in the Cultural Promotion Area of Office V of the Directorate General for Services to Citizens Abroad and Migration Policies.

The second was the 'Social' award, assigned to the Istituto Superiore Amaldi Nevio di Santa Maria Capua Vetere (Caserta). This prize was assigned to the drawing that received the highest number of votes cast by the general public on Banca d'Italia's X profile, out of the first nine runners-up excluded from the final. This design will also appear on the notice for the competition in the 2026/2027 school year.