The International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) has announced the finalists in the 16th round of its Excellence in Currency Awards.

In the absence in 2021 of the HSP (High Security Print) Awards, which are normally held three times a year to coincide with the three regional HSP conferences (for Asia, EMEA and Latin America respectively), HSP organiser Reconnaissance International held a series of virtual awards instead.

Banknote holograms were winners in three of the five categories in the Excellence in Holography Awards 2021 organised by the industry trade body, the International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA).

The EMEA Cash Cycle Seminar (ICCOS) was again held in a virtual format at the start of November. Despite this, the event attracted nearly 200 registrations based in around 40 countries and representing 77 different organisations.

Jura held a number of workshops on 5-6 October in Budapest as part of the newly-launched Jura Academy. This was one of the first physical events where customers and suppliers travelled to come together for the first time in the last 18 months or so, and representatives were in attendance from Austria, Czech Republic, France, Lithuania, Germany, Netherlands, Slovenia, Oman, Yemen, UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK and, of course, Hungary itself.

With COVID still disrupting travel plans, the 11th EMEA Cash Cycle Seminar (ICCOS) is being held virtually on 2-3 November. Over 200 attendees representing central banks, commercial banks, CIT and suppliers from more than 40 countries have registered for the two half days of thought leading presentations in an agenda dominated by cash users.

The World Banknote Summit (WBS) has announced the programme which, due to COVID, will be held online on 22-24 November. According to the organisers, the focus of WBS is not on touching all bases or providing a general overview, but about getting to the heart of the issues that are of paramount importance to the payments industry.

The Holography Conference Online, the annual event for the worldwide holographic community, takes place 17-18 November, and this year currency-related presentations are strong on the agenda.

Registration is now open for the new Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) conference, which will be in Vienna, Austria, 17-19 January 2022, with the programme available to view online at opticaldigitalsecurity.com.

One of the highlights of the High Security Printing™ conferences each year are the regional awards for the best banknotes and ID documents. Thanks to COVID-19, no in-person HSP has been possible since the last event in Lisbon in March 2020. Reconnaissance International, organiser of the HSP events, has decided to bridge the gap by holding a series of virtual awards instead.