Richmond brothers in the finals for Canadian Mint coin design contest

To celebrate the Canada’s 150th anniversary, the Canadian Mint has selected 25 new coin designs from thousands of submissions, and it’s up to Canadians to choose their favourites.

The toonie, loonie, quarter, dime, and nickel will all be getting new designs in 2017. Richmond residents Timothy and Stephen Hsia are two of the finalists in the coin design contest, of the five in the Metro Vancouver area. A family doctor and lawyer respectively, the brothers entered the contest as a way of satisfying one of their first loves: art.

“Tim and I aren’t professional artists, we’re just really keen amateur,” says Stephen. “Drawing is our hobby. We’ve always loved to draw and design from an early age, and when we heard about this contest we were quite interested. We love Canada, we love design, we thought we could put in a pretty good submission. We’re thrilled and humbled to have been chosen.”

The two brothers each submitted their own designs. Timothy’s, “Dance of the Spirits,” features a canoe on a lake, with the Aurora Borealis above the tree line. Timothy found his inspiration after taking some friends to the virtual reality experience, Fly Over Vancouver.

“I couldn’t think of anything more wonderful, more full of wonder, than the Northern Lights,” says Timothy. “This is something that all Canadians can relate to. It isn’t bound by one place, it’s our skies.”

Stephen’s design, “Confederation Bouqet,” features the shape of a maple leaf, comprised of each Province and Territory’s official flower. He says he created the design to show that while Canada is made up of very different provinces, the country is stronger because of it.

“We have a vast geography, and vastly different people. Someone from the Yukon is going to be very different than someone from Toronto,” he says. “I think it’s amazing that this whole enterprise, after 150 years, we’ve become one country.”

There are 25 other designs in the finals, and three others in the Metro Vancouver area. If you’re looking to support another Lower Mainland design, check out “Canada Goose” by Vancouver’s Sinclair Healy, “Flora and Fauna Snowflake” by Vancouver’s Laura Kinder, “Coast to Coast” from Delta’s Victoria Heryet, and “Fly Canada Fly” by Richmond’s Adrian Chan.

Voting is open until October 9 and can be done on the Canadian Mint website.