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Mr. Jamie Franki was one of the many people who entered a competition of the U.S. Mint. To win this competition, you had to submit a design for the new United States nickel. He won and now his designs are on the new buffalo nickel and Jefferson 1800 nickel. Another design of his was the coaching medallion of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. The team interviewed him by email.

Question: What is the process for getting selected by the U.S. Mint to design a coin? Did you have to express interest in some way?

Answer: In 2003, the Mint advertised a "call for entries" to apply for it's Artistic Infusion Program. The AIP was set up to establish a group of American artists who could be eligible to participate as design subcontractors for coinage development competitions. Hundreds of people sent in applications, consisting of a design test (a quarter reverse), a portfolio and a 500 word essay. I was selected as one of 24 artists to join the new program.

Question: What are the steps that you have to go through to get your design selected from start to finish?

Answer: Every design started with a work order, supplying all the required text elements (called "legends") and descriptions in narrative form for the relief-sculpted images (called "devices.") We submitted our layouts in 8" diameter compositions. Each design had several artists competing for selection. All the designs went through a rigorous jury process with multiple reviewing panels. Revisions were often requested. In the end, all jury recommendations were considered by the Secretary of the Treasury, who ultimately made each final decision.

Question: Did you work with the mint in Denver or Philadelphia? Did you go the mint itself at any point in the design? Do guest artists hide their initials in the design?

Answer: We (the AIP artists) went to a 3-day orientation and guided tour through the Philadelphia Mint. We also convened in Washington DC at US Mint headquarters. It was fascinating! No, guest artists don't hide their initials (or anything else) in any design. This is very serious stuff, so an artist fortunate enough to be chosen would be ill-advised to hide something in an image concept. I was, however, asked to provide a design for my initials which was integrated on my two chosen nickel designs. On the Bison nickel, there is a JNF under the leading rear leg, and on the Jefferson 1800 nickel my initials were included on President Jefferson's left shoulder. They are tiny, but I'm proud they are there!

Question: We are assuming that artists get paid for their work. Since you are more familiar with this part of the process, is there a general amount that guest artists get for successfully designing a coin? Is there some kind of ceremony when the first coin is pressed or put into circulation?

Answer: We were paid 1000 dollars for each work order, and an additional 1000 dollars if our designs were selected for minting. Every new coin has an opening ceremony, which serves to introduce the coin and validate the nature of it's design and idea content. It was an honor to be at both opening ceremonies for my chosen nickel designs. The US Mint announces these events on their website and generally invites the media to attend.

Question: We also understand that you designed an Olympic coaching medallion. Was this through the mint or was it done for an outside source in conjunction with the U.S. Treasury Department--or was it the Olympic Committee [United States Olympic Committee]? Did you get to keep a commemorative medal from that?

Answer: My contract with the US Mint ended in 2006, but i have been creating designs for medals since then on an independent basis. The Olympic coaching medal was a national contest. Winning that particular design contest was a very proud moment for me as an American. (The USOC is a private organization, not affiliated with the Federal Government.) Yes, I did get 3 copies of the medal. One I kept for myself, one I gave to my parents and the other I am donating to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where I work as a professor.

Question: Do you get your drawings back or how does this work?

The layouts we sent in became the property of the US Mint and were not returned.