The purpose of the Maunakea Coin Contest is to enhance the awareness of the convergence between astronomy (such as night sky, constellations, and telescopes) and the Hawaiian culture of Maunakea (such as plants, animals, insects, the environments, and natural history) among K-12 students on the Big Island of Hawai‘i. See for example the Maunakea Heritage and Natural Resources guide from the Office of Maunakea Management.
K-12 students were invited to create the design for a coin that includes both astronomy and Hawaiian themes related to Maunakea, and to express their aloha and respect for the impressive mountain.
Contestants entered in one of three categories:
- Grades K-4
- Grades 5-8
- Grades 9-12
All entries were judged by Kimo Pihana, Hawaiian cultural practitioner, and Dr. Nadine Manset, astronomer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and chair of the Maunakea Astronomy Outreach Committee. The entries from the nine category winners were judged by Ka'iu Kimura, Director of the 'Imiloa Astronomy Center, who picked the third, second, and first place overall winners.
The winner of the 2017 Maunakea Coin Contest is Jadelyn Fernando, who is in 12th grade at the Kea'au High School. Her teacher is Mr. Watanabe. Congratulations Jadelyn!
Jadelyn's design included the year, drawn as a constellation, tapa motifs adorning the crescent Moon and coconut trees, observatories, and other elements related to Maunakea. Jadelyn and all winners received their prizes at AstroDay, on May 6, 2017, from MKAOC chair Dr. Nadine Manset.
All winning designs were on display at AstroDay. The nine category winners received KTA gift certificates, a book from the Subaru telescope, baseball caps from the Visitor Information Station, a rice paddle from the W. M. Keck Observatory, sunglasses from TMT, a 2017 bronze coin, as well as stickers, images, pens, pins, from CFHT, the East Asian Observatory, HI-SEAS, the UH Institute for Astronomy, the Submillimeter Array. All prizes were put in a bag donated by the Gemini Observatory.
The three overall winners also received an 'Imiloa membership, membership for the Paleaku Peace Sanctuary and Galaxy Garden, a Maunakea guide book, a Hawaiian Starlight DVD, more KTA gift certificates, and a Galileoscope. The top winner also received a print of an astronomical image take with the CFHT.
Four special mentions were awarded to designs that did not quite match what the judges were looking for, but that had interesting ideas to offer. Those winners received small prizes as well.
