Banknote featuring work of Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell from Lurgan is up for global award

Run by the International Bank Note Society (IBNS), the award seeks to recognise an exceptional note issued each year. The recently launched Ulster Bank note is shortlisted alongside ones from places like Macau, Barbados, Egypt, Peru, Indonesia and Pakistan.

The award winner will be decided from the shortlist by the IBNS, who will consider the artistic merit, design, use of colour, contrast, balance, and security features of each nomination.

Ulster Bank’s polymer £50 note, which came into circulation last summer, features Dame Jocelyn’s iconic 1967 discovery of pulsars - spherical, compact objects that are about the size of a large city but contain more mass than the sun.

Dame Jocelyn, who was born in Lurgan, is considered one of the world’s foremost astrophysicists. Her discovery was a sensational find, recognised with the Nobel prize for physics in 1974.

The design of the £50 note heavily features women working in NI’s burgeoning life sciences industry. It also portrays ‘Millies’ working at the loom, as a homage to the unsung heroes of NI’s great linen industry. These women were seen as ‘unskilled operatives’ at the time but are celebrated in the note for their skill and graft.

There are also nods to Northern Ireland’s shipbuilding and aviation sectors, the creative industries, and the region’s place as a centre of excellence in cyber security.

On the other side of the note, there are a range of flora and fauna found in NI, including a pine martin, a cryptic wood butterfly, and gorse, whose thorny spines make it a corridor and safe haven for wildlife.

Sandra Wright, senior HR manager at Ulster Bank said: “The note designs are a celebration of the people and places of Northern Ireland, building on the designs of our £5, £10 and £20 notes. But this note has a particular focus on NI women and women’s role in life and industry here, including amazing achievements such as Dame Jocelyn Bell’s discovery of pulsars. We are really honoured that it is shortlisted for the award.”