Celebrating Outstanding Design and Innovation in ID and Travel Documents

The prestigious Regional ID Document of the Year Awards form part of the industry’s High Security Printing (HSP) Latin America conference. This year’s event was held in Nassau, the Bahamas, with the awards presented at a special ceremony in the beautiful gardens of the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar, during the conference dinner on 6 June.

The awards gave the industry an opportunity to celebrate this year’s Best New Passport, Best New National ID Card and Best New ID or Travel Document.

Best New Passport – Joint

The quality of entries for the Best New Passport category was so high this year that it seemed unfair to have to decide between the top two entrants – so it was agreed to make this a joint award.

The first joint Best New Passport award went to Brazil for the new passport designed and developed by Department of Federal Police and the Brasilian State Mint, Casa da Moeda. 

The second joint Best New Passport award went to Costa Rica for the new biometric passport designed and developed by Veridos together with partner GSI Sertracen and the government. There will be a feature article on the new Costa Rican passport in July’s edition.

Best New National ID Card

The Best New National ID Card award this year went to the National Registry of Natural Persons of the Government of El Salvador for the recently introduced Unique Identity Document (DUI) used to identify all Salvadorans both inside and outside its borders. In addition to serving as an identification document, the card is used to vote in municipal or presidential elections as well as gain access to various government-provided services.

In 2021, the government of El Salvador signed a contract with Mühlbauer to introduce a new ID card with multiple laser image (MLI), which carries the laser engraved birthdate and portrait of the cardholder. The new DUI is issued through a biometric personalisation and identification system that uses state-of-the-art technology making it highly secure. The personalisation process is based upon the MB Alfresco® technology, a combination of laser engraving and inkjet printing for the portrait of the owner. Made of polycarbonate and integrating 37 security features, which minimise the risks of forgery or alteration, the new DUI is a highly resistant, durable and ecological document.

Mühlbauer also extended the physical card into a mobile ID, implementing the MB Steel Reader app, which holds the information of the physical document. The information can be shared with institutions in private and public sectors electronically. The new hardware to enable the digital changes also comprised self-enrolment kiosks distributed all over the country.

The national system now comprises multiple enrolment, personalisation and issuance offices across El Salvador and includes mobile enrolment facilities for citizens who are unable to attend at the enrolment centres. In addition, several dozen El Salvadorian consulates in the USA and Canada have been equipped to process applications and issue National ID Cards to El Salvadorian citizens.

Best New Other Security Document

The winning entry in this category went to the Road Traffic Department of the Government of the Bahamas for the new Bahamas Driver Licence, introduced together with the new Learner Permit, Public Service Licence and Vehicle Title Certificate.

The Bahamas Driver Licence project started after many incidents of fraud and counterfeits with the previous Bahamas DL. The design was conceived with colour notes of Bahamas great beaches and their magnificent birds.

A large array of complex features is integrated into the card including rainbow graphics with guilloche pattern, microtext with deliberate error, relief effect microtext, OVI, CLI, UV print, personalisation with laser engraving and a Kinegram®. The licence is designed to combine various elements to ensure its authenticity and prevent counterfeiting, built into polycarbonate material.

All the documents are in sync to the colour theme and maintain the individual secure functionality complementing their aesthetics.