We are pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Dollar ReDe$ign contest.
FIRST PLACE – Dowling Duncan – 7,380 votes
SECOND PLACE – Ani Ardzivian – 4,688 votes
THIRD PLACE – Sean Flanagan – 4,496 votes
– Lee Willet – 4,059 votes
OTHER RESULTS AND NOMINATIONS
POLL RESULTS
(you can view all the results here)
Should we Redesign the Dollar?
– 3 to 1 in favor of change
Who Should Sing the Star Spangled Banner at the Launch Party?
– Eminem
Favorite Slogan for Brand USA
- In God We Trust
Favorite Person to Appear on New Bill Design
– Barack Obama (again!)
PETITION
Total Signatures to Date
– 2,990
(you can still sign here if you’ve not already!)
WEBSITE STATS
(by # of visitors worldwide)
Top Countries
– 1. United States. 2. Canada. 3. UK.
Top US States
– 1. California. 2. Texas. 3. New York.
Top Cities Worldwide
– 1. New York. 2. Los Angeles. 3. San Francisco.
SUBMISSIONS
Total Submissions
– This year’s competition: 61
– Submissions to date: 139
WINNERS OF THE POPULAR VOTE
Most Blogged – Dowling Duncan
Most Criticism – Dowling Duncan
Most Determined – Ani Ardzivian
Most Traffic – Dowling Duncan
Most Adorable – Dylan Smith
Most Discussion – Dowling Duncan
Most Tongue-in-Cheek – Vincent Kettering
Most Progressive – Neil Clavin, Yasmina Haryono, Heather Moore, Jan Schröder
Most Metaphorical – Gabriel Eid
Most Charming – Tobias Treppmann
Most iRonic – Raffael Hannemann
Most Luxurious – Heath Killen
Most Obvious Comments
– 1. Reminds me of Monopoly money.
– 2. Exactly what is this liberal @#$%!
– 3. They better keep God's name on it!
THANK YOU
Firstly I’d like to say thank you to everyone who’s taken part in this year’s competition, it’s been another roller coaster of a ride. Thank you also to all our supporters and fans, and to all the journalists and bloggers who helped promote our story.
From the competition’s humble beginnings in April, we have seen its popularity and polarizing effect achieve near pop culture status with copycat sites and YouTube rants being posted every day and mentions cropping up everywhere.
The cat was really put amongst the pigeons when we posted Dowling Duncan’s entry – Relative Value – in August. Within a matter of days people went nuts at the idea of President Obama’s face appearing on our currency. The populace cried: ‘Illegal!’ ‘Unpatriotic!’ ‘Stupid!’ Then the hate mail came thick and fast. People posted obscenities and accusations on our Facebook Fan page. Yahoo! News, who posted a story about the project that appeared on the front page of the Huffington Post, drove over 100,000 visitors to our blog in just one day and accumulated over 24,000 comments. These ranged from the perverse – “Obama does not belong on US money ... he is nothing more than a black African Muslim that got into American politics by the crooks in Chicago and voted in as president by Acorn and the vast minorities" – to the obvious – “we must keep ‘In God We Trust.’”
A publicist couldn’t have made a bigger splash, even if we paid them. The mainstream media ran stories online, on air, in print, everywhere, including Time, Aol, Fox, ABC World News, the Today Show, NBC, NPR, Good Morning America, the Huffington Post, Gawker, Yahoo! (in both the US, Canada and Australia), the Russian national TV station Zvezda said hello, and the national Ukrainian TV station Inter+ also stopped by for a chat. AdWeek, MSNBC and MSN, The Street, the English Daily Telegraph, the National Post in Canada, the China Post and Agence France-Presse, amongst several hundred others, all ran stories.
Supporting the democratic process, we started a poll, it made sense considering the fact we’d heard many subjective opinions in the past. Dowling Duncan’s submission and feverish viral publicity quickly put them ahead racking up almost 1,000 votes instantly and at the close of voting last night they had accumulated a total of 7,380 votes – making them the clear winner. Our 3rd place runner up, Sean Flanagan, seemed to come from nowhere and constantly challenged Dowling Duncan for the top spot for several days. Ani Ardzivian, our 2nd place runner up, who used Facebook and her RISD connections to rapidly push her submission to the top, and who also looked like potentially stealing Dowling Duncan’s crown as well at one point, was knocked off the number 2 spot within hours of Yahoo’s post. She then trailed in 4th place for a few days but then fought her way back to eventually finish in 2nd position. It was a thrilling ride and it seemed like it would always be anyone’s game until the very end.
Lastly I’d like to say a special thank you to Diane Treat, Dylan Smith, Michaela Gallardo, Mr & Mrs Milne, Rob Duncan, John Dowling, Heath Killen and Gabriel Eid. Thanks also to all the reporters we spoke to and again thank you to everyone who sent in their ideas.
AND FINALLY
An Outside Perspective. Perhaps it seems impolite or inappropriate for “a bunch of Brits” to think they have the right to suggest the mighty US Dollar could do with a makeover. Yet, in many ways, the father’s of this country (many of whom ironically were of English decent) used the wisdom and experience they had learned, from many outside perspectives, to lay down the foundations for this country and its principals. As we know from our history books, the fundamental ideas and philosophies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights were inspired by several ‘foreign’ points of view. Yes, the Founding Fathers were in pursuit of independence from British rule but that did not stop them from taking notes from its political heritage.
Land of Opportunity? In this light it seems perverse to say the basis of our project is unpatriotic or un-American just because we were not born here, or because we are “outsiders.” This country was built by immigrants of every nationality who came in search of the “American dream,” from all over the world. Immigrants who brought with them the rich heritage of their motherland and infused our culture with their individual traditions and experience. It’s what made America, America. It’s what makes America unique. It’s what makes America special. It’s what America represents and is what should be celebrated and rejoiced, every day. It’s what we should use the Dollar bill for: as a vehicle to honor the multifaceted aspects of American culture and its many achievements and communicate to the global village – ie the rest of the world – as clearly and defiantly as possible, why America really is great.
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