AP News, May 1st, 2007
The Grand Canyon State's quarter will feature both the national park and another familiar Arizona image: the saguaro cactus.
The design for the Arizona quarter, chosen by Gov. Janet Napolitano, includes a "Grand Canyon State" banner across the middle of the quarter, separating the canyon view with a multi-rayed sun above and a saguaro in a desert landscape below.
Napolitano's office disclosed her choice before a scheduled announcement Tuesday. The Arizona quarter, 48th in the state-by-state series, will be released in 2008, followed by Alaska and Hawaii.
Saguaros are an iconic image of southern Arizona deserts, while the Grand Canyon, a chasm carved thousands of feet into the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado River, is an international tourist attraction.
The design was one of five produced by the U.S. Mint based on narratives suggested by a state commission appointed by Napolitano.
The winner was the overwhelming favorite of 112,830 entries submitted to an online poll conducted by Napolitano's office.
Matthew Rounis, a fifth-grader who served on the commission, said the design "represents the entire state, not just one section, and it also serves as a map of Arizona, since in the northern part you have the Grand Canyon and in the southern part you have the saguaro, which is indigenous to those areas."
Since 1999, the U.S. Mint has issued new quarters marking the order in which states ratified the U.S. Constitution and joined the union. For each state, the local images appear on the "tails" side and George Washington's bust on the "heads" side.
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On the Net:
50 State Quarters Program: http://tinyurl.com/yvhwxr
