Times are tough. And now it looks like it's got so bad, we're being invited to make our own small change.

Following on from Matthew Dent's re-design of the UK coinage, The Royal Mint has just launched a competition to design commemorative coins for the London 2012 Olympics.

You get to pick from one of 27 Olympic sports (the athletics and cycling coins are being designed by Blue Peter viewers and schoolkids, so you can't pick them) and then download a design template for the reverse side of the coin (the Queen gets to stay where she is). The closing date for entries is Friday 24 April (you have to register by 22 April), and you can send in more than one design.

27 designs will be picked, one for each sport, and winners will then be announced in November. Each winner gets to see their coin designed (and in people's pockets from 2010), as well as £1,000 and a trip to the Royal Mint.

Some of the existing 2012 coins.

This will probably once again kick off the debate about opening up key designs to public competitions instead of commissioning designers, as was seen with the recent competition to design a new bus for London which pulled in entries from design companies as well as the public.

We reckon it's good to have a public competition now and again, as it gets everyone talking and thinking about design, and that's surely a good thing.