The next euro banknotes have reached their most visible stage so far. On 23 July 2026 the European Central Bank unveiled ten shortlisted design proposals and opened a public survey across Europe. The survey will remain available until 21 September 2026.
These are not ten individual banknotes. Each proposal is a coordinated family covering the six denominations planned for the future series: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 euro. Five proposals interpret the theme “European culture”; the other five develop “Rivers and birds”.
Design A, one of the ten shortlisted families: six fronts and six reverses by Studio Joost Grootens. These are design proposals, not issued or approved banknotes.
From 1,200 applications to ten complete families
The shortlist closes the design contest launched in July 2025. According to the ECB, more than 1,200 graphic designers applied from across the European Union. Twenty-five were invited to develop proposals for one or both themes.
An independent jury then reduced that work to ten proposals. Its 21 members, one nominated by each euro-area national central bank, brought together expertise in graphic design, communication, neuroscience, history and other relevant fields. The jury’s conclusion is important, but it is only one of the inputs that will lead to the final choice.
The ten families now make visible the motifs selected in January 2025. Under “European culture”, the denominations connect figures such as Maria Callas, Ludwig van Beethoven, Marie Curie, Miguel de Cervantes, Leonardo da Vinci and Bertha von Suttner with performing arts, music, education, libraries, museums and public spaces. Under “Rivers and birds”, the sequence follows water from mountain springs to the sea, pairing different landscapes and bird species with European institutions.
All ten proposals, from A to J
Design A is reproduced above. The remaining nine families follow in the same order used by the ECB. Each plate can be opened at full size: the official files are preserved unaltered and identify the ECB as their source.
Design B — PunktFormStrich.
Design C — Neue Gestaltung GmbH.
Design E — Myrsini Vardopoulou.
Design F — Jan Robert Dünnweller.
Design H — Atelier Goppel-Toperngpong.
Design I — Isabelle Daëron.
Design J — Ville Tietäväinen.
Two surveys, then a decision
Anyone in Europe can take part in the ECB’s online survey until 21 September. In parallel, an independent research company will ask the same questions to a representative sample of euro-area citizens. The ECB intends to publish a report on both sets of results after the final design concept has been selected.
The public vote is therefore influential but not a simple winner-takes-all ballot. The Governing Council expects to choose one design proposal around the end of 2026 by combining the jury’s conclusions, a technical assessment and the results of the two surveys.
That technical assessment is unavoidable. A banknote design has to accommodate security features, machine processing, accessibility, durability and production constraints while remaining recognisable across the euro area. The ECB has already said that the future series will introduce new and improved security features, improve authentication and accessibility for visually impaired people, and aim for a lower environmental footprint.
What happens after the winning design
The decision expected at the end of 2026 will not put new banknotes into circulation immediately. The selected proposal must still be developed, tested and prepared for production. The ECB says circulation will begin only in subsequent years and has not yet announced an issue date.
Current banknotes will not suddenly become invalid. Notes from the previous series will retain their value and continue to circulate alongside the new series. The transition will therefore be gradual, as it was with the Europa series.
For collectors and researchers, the shortlist is a genuine historical milestone: it is the first time the complete visual alternatives for the third generation of euro banknotes can be compared. But signatures, serial-number structures, printer codes and final security details remain open questions. Those will become catalogue facts only when the ECB publishes them.
