A TALENTED graduate from Malvern has won a competition to design the official UK coin commemorating the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Pippa Sanderson will join the artistic elite having created the £5 coin design, which will be a permanent memento of London 2012.

It has been a tradition for commemorative coins to be struck in celebration of the Games since the Helsinki summer Olympics in 1952.

In previous years, the official UK coins have been designed by renowned artists or sculptors.

Miss Sanderson said: “I was so proud to have won the competition. It is a rare and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of the history of the Paralympic Games.”

Miss Sanderson’s design is the first to be selected through a Royal Mint competition for art and design students at colleges and universities across the UK. They were challenged to create a design celebrating the capital’s role as host city incorporating the Olympic and Paralympic Games logos.

Miss Sanderson is a recent graduate with a first class honours degree in Graphic and Media Design at Hereford College of Arts.

Her design takes inspiration from the Games, celebrating accuracy, manoeuvrability and speed.

She said it was “challenging” to fit all the elements onto a coin, while keeping the detail of her design.

She said: “My design idea came from the concept of rings and what they mean, from the track at the stadium to the Olympic rings.

“It was inspired by movement (the wheels), accuracy (archery), speed (stop watch), and time and London (Big Ben).

"A coin is a small object and very specific so it’s more challenging than other design work that I have done.

“I had to reduce the original design to the size of the coin to ensure that the detail stood out.”

As well as the honour of seeing her design go in to production, Miss Sanderson also receives £5,000.

The design for the official London 2012 Olympic coin was created by Saiman Miah, who is currently studying for his masters degree at the Birmingham School of Architecture.

The coin, which is legal UK tender, will go on sale this month.

To see the Royal Mint’s full London 2012 collection, visit royalmint.com/london2012