GOVERNOR ROWLAND ANNOUNCES CONNECTICUT COIN DESIGN COMPETITION

Governor John G. Rowland today announced he was looking for ideas as to what should be on the tails side of the "Connecticut Quarter" to be issued by the U.S. Mint in 1999.

Over the next month, the public can provide ideas by entering the Connecticut Coin Design Competition (details attached). Deadline for entries is March 2, 1998.

"The Connecticut Quarter will embody the unique character and history of our state," Governor Rowland said. "We have about 30 days to determine what symbol best represents our state and I am looking forward to hearing what the people of Connecticut think."

The Connecticut Commission on the Arts will run the competition. Governor Rowland has assembled a special panel to evaluate entries and report to him in early March.

The panel will meet on March 9 to review entries and select design concepts that best embody the state’s heritage and history.

Beginning in 1999, five State quarters will be issued per year in the order in which the States ratified the Constitution or were admitted into the Union. Connecticut will be honored in 1999, along with Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Georgia.

Under the timeline established by the U.S. Mint, Governor Rowland must send three to five design concepts to the U.S. Mint by March 13, 1998.

Between March and June, Connecticut design concepts will be reviewed by the U.S. Mint, the Citizens Commemorative Coin Committee and others for acceptability and coinability. The U.S. Mint’s artists will produce the actual design for the Connecticut Quarter based on one of the design concept presented by the Governor.

 

Connecticut Commemorative Coin Design Competition Review Committee

Tommy Simpson of Washington. Simpson is an award-winning artist and decorative craftsman. He is also an author and fellow of the American Craft Council

Christopher Collier of Orange. Collier is a Professor of History at the University of Connecticut and the Connecticut State Historian.

Benjamin Ortiz of Ridgefield. Ortiz is Curator of the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport.

Elizabeth Brown of Guilford. Brown is an architectural historian. She is currently writing a book for the Society of Architectural Historians series, The Building of the United States, Connecticut volume, to be published by Oxford Press.

Deidre L. Bibby of Pawkatuck. Bibby is the Executive Director of the Amistad Foundation and Curator of African American Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum.

Peter Good of Chester. Good is an award-winning designer with works represented in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and Die Neue Sammling Museum in Munich, Germany.

Robert Patterson of Hartford. Patterson, 17, is a senior at Glastonbury High School and a member of the State Student Advisory Council. He received the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award last year and the Connecticut College Book Award for community service.

Ann Smith of Roxbury. Smith is a curator at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury and a member of the board of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.

Michael Price. Price is Chairman, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, ex officio member

 

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Connecticut Commemorative

Coin Design Competition

Guidelines

• Any Connecticut resident can submit an entry. Only one entry is allowed per person.

• All entries must be postmarked or delivered to the Commission on the Arts, 755 Main Street, One Financial Plaza, Hartford Connecticut 06103 by March 2, 1998.

• Submissions are to be in the form of a drawing (no larger than 8 ½ by 11 inches) with accompanying one page written explanation of the image and its significance to the State.

• A photograph (no larger than 8 x 10) may be used in place of a drawing. If copyrighted materials are used, releases should be provided from the copyright holder.

• Suitable subject matter for design concepts may include state landmarks, landscapes, historically significant buildings, symbols of state resources or industries, official State flora and fauna, or state icons.

• No head or shoulder portrait of any person living or dead may be included in the design.

• State flags and State seals are not considered suitable for designs.

• No inscription/words should be included in the State design concept.

• Inappropriate design concepts include, but are not limited to the following: logos or depictions of specific commercial, private educational, civic, religious, sports or other organizations whose membership or ownership is not universal.

 

Connecticut Commission on the Arts

755 Main Street, 1 Financial Plaza, Hartford, Connecticut 06103

(860) 566-4770