Teenager's joy at coin design win

A teenager described his shock and joy today at being the first teenager to design a British coin.

Theo Crutchley-Mack, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, won a nationwide secondary school competition to create a London Olympic Games cycling-themed 50p piece.

The 16-year-old Rishworth School pupil beat off 3,000 other entries with his design featuring a rider racing a bike in a velodrome.

He was awarded a special gold commemorative coin featuring his creation - which was also seen and approved by the Queen - by Dave Knight, head of commemorative coins at the Royal Mint, at a special assembly at his school.

Speaking after the assembly, Theo said he had nearly calmed down from the shock of winning and was looking forward to seeing his coin in circulation from autumn this year.

"It's absolutely amazing", he said, "just the thought of my design going out for everyone to see, being on all the 50p coins, in your pocket - it's just amazing, you can't get much better than that."

Theo, a keen cyclist, said that when he spotted the competition it seemed exactly right for him.

"I've been into art since I was tiny," he said. "I've been doing cycling and trial biking for about three or four years now, and I just saw this competition and thought 'wow, that's amazing, that's exactly what I love - cycling and art both in one'."

But Theo was not without his doubts and it was only when his mother Susan spotted his sketch in the bin and assured him of its merit that he sent it in.

Describing the talk she had with her son, Mrs Crutchley-Mack said: "I told him 'nothing ventured nothing gained' - one of those discussions you have with teenagers - and so in it went and here we are today - its unbelievable."

Along with his design featuring on the 50p piece, Theo also won £10,000 for his school.

Mr Knight said the design caught the eye of the judging panel because it captured the spirit of cycling.

He said: "I think his design is outstanding, not just because of his age but because it's truly good.

"It's technically very good and it's really captured the essence of cycling - particularly the sense of speed and motion around the velodrome and we thought it was something that would translate on to a coin."

Theo will head off to the Royal Mint next week where he will strike the first coin in his design.

Up to three million of the coins will be released for circulation later this year and it is the second in a series of 29 officially licensed 2012 50p commemorative coins, the first was created by nine-year-old Florence Jackson and unveiled in October last year.

Each coin in the series depicts a different Olympic and Paralympic sport, with the remaining 27 coins to be announced later this year.