FUTURE OF MONEY DESIGN AWARDS 2026
Location
Online / London
Deadline for application
06 March 2026
Winner's Prize
750 pounds for the winning entrant, travel expenses to London for finalists, an opportunity to present to financial and payment industry experts, projects achieved on the FOM award website and a physical award (to put on the shelf).
Competition Description
OPEN CALL FOR APPLICATIONS – FUTURE OF MONEY DESIGN AWARDS (FOM26)
‘Musical Notes & Sound Money’
CALLING ALL CREATIVES! The future of music & money needs you!
THE BRIEF:
Money and music (and, in fact, all creative endeavours) have always had an uneasy relationship. Music is profoundly human—it likely existed even before the rise of civilisation—and it runs deep in our collective unconscious. It is complex, emotive, irrational, and intrinsically linked to our sense of being and meaning-making.
Money, too, has a long history. It helped build civilisations, and in its contemporary form it is rational, functional, practical, and pragmatic. The motivations behind music and money often stand in stark contrast. We all need music (and creativity) to live—and money to survive.
Can this relationship be reinvented?
Buskers play for a peppercorn offering in coins and a transient audience. Youth orchestras often operate through a gift economy—people devoted to music and expression. Oasis claimed they were the last rock band for the masses (oh dear). David Bowie predicted music would become like turning on a tap—and he created the infamous “Bowie Bonds”.
The truth is: money and music are both here to stay.
But can they play harmoniously together?
We challenge you to explore and create from the relationship between money and music.
Ask yourself… what if!
- What if music became money?
- What if musicians owned platforms?
- What if people were paid to listen to new music (like taste-testers for food)?
- What if musical instruments only played when money was inserted?
- What if buskers could play through your headphones as you walked by?
- What if buskers had their own micro radio stations?
- What if youth orchestras were nationally funded as part of the health service?
Don’t let “what is” dictate “what could be”!
By entering the Future of Money Design Awards, you retain full copyright in your work. You grant the Awards a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, display, and archive your entry for award-related purposes such as promotion, exhibition, and inclusion on our website and associated media. No ownership rights are transferred.