Results of the Anonymous Contest for the Art Design of a Silver Collector Coin with a Face Value of EUR 10 for the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Aurel Stodola

First prize
Miroslav Ronai

Second prize
Ing. Milan Virčík

Third prize
Mária Poldaufová

In June 2008, Národná banka Slovenska announced an anonymous public contest for the art design of a silver collector coin in nominal value of 10 euro commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Aurel Stodola, a physicist, mathematician, university professor, constructor and inventor. Fourteen authors submitted for the contest a total of sixteen artworks. The Committee for the Assessment of Art Designs of Slovak Coins evaluated them in September 2008.

Recommended for production was the design created by Miroslav Ronai who was awarded the first prize in the contest. The committee appreciated his outstanding rendition of the given topic, the depiction of the contemporaneous turbogenerator on the averse and, in particular, the extraordinary sculptural quality of the portrait of Aurel Stodola. Another element that was positively acknowledged by the committee was his considerate use of a complementary attribute, a contemporaneous caliper used by the designers of the time in their technical drawings.

The second prize was awarded to Ing. Milan Virčík. The committee particularly appreciated his high-quality depiction of the technical appliances on both the averse and reverse that represent Stodola’s activities as a constructor and inventor and suitably complement the well-rendered portrait on the reverse.

The third prize was awarded to Mária Poldaufová. Her design was acknowledged by the committee thanks to her suitable selection of attributes – a contemporaneous turbogenerator on the averse and the so-called Molliere entropy diagram that complements the portrait on the reverse. The compositional harmony of the averse and the reverse was also appreciated.

The Governor of Národná banka Slovenska approved the recommendation of the expert committee for the production of the silver collector coin by his decision in October 2008.