How to Buy Trophies

You’re in charge of getting the trophies. You want to do a good job. You want make sure everything looks good for the presentation. But how do you start? What do you need to know about how to buy trophies?

Trophies are a symbol of accomplishment. They represent all the hard work that went into achieving the goal that the trophy is being presented for. It may be a student who won a spelling bee. It may be for a team of soccer players who won the division tournament. It may be for an employee who blew through all the sales records of the company. Whatever the occasion that is being commemorated by the trophy - it’s a big deal. The right trophy can make the presentation more meaningful and make the memories last longer.

The Type of Occasion Points to the Type of Trophy

You want to make sure the trophy or awards you present are appropriate for the event. It has to fit the occasion and the audience. The main types of occasions that people get trophies for are:

Academic

Trophies and awards presented to students for academic accomplishments vary with the size of the accomplishment and the age of the student. When students are young, teachers will pass out stickers for small accomplishments and certificates or ribbons for larger events. When a student wins a math contest or a spelling bee or a forensics debate, the trophies tend to get larger with the increasing competition of the event. A first grader may win a medal or small trophy for mastering their alphabet. A state winner of the math contest will get a larger trophy than the district contest. Larger trophies are more impressive than smaller ones, for sure, but the award should be appropriately sized for the size of the accomplishment. There are trophies and awards for most academic endeavors, but if a specific trophy does not exist for say robotics, then a plaque, a victory trophy, or an insert resin might be the best fit.


Athletic

Trophies are traditionally handed to winners in athletic events and when we typically think of trophies, our mind probably thinks of the Olympics or other major sporting events. But along the way to making the big time, there are smaller accomplishments to celebrate and commemorate. When a youth soccer player finishes their first season, just showing up to all the practices can be a major accomplishment that should be recognized with a small medal or trophy. As they get older and more skilled, then receiving recognition when their team wins a tournament is probably more appropriate than just completing another season. QuickTrophy has sport specific trophies for nearly any sport you can think of. If we don’t have one, give us a call or drop an email and likely we can come up with something.


Fun & Family

Trophies are a great way to make a fun event even more fun with the goal of winning a trophy and the bragging rights that go with it. Fantasy football leagues, neighborhood cornhole championship games or family reunion card games are examples of events that deserve a trophy or trophies to make the stakes a little bit higher. For events that occur on an annual basis, you might consider a perpetual or traveling trophy to commemorate the winning person or team each year. This type of trophy will document the winner’s going back years and provide a source of memories and fun for years to come.


Employee Recognition

To motivate your employees and give them a symbol they can strive for, a trophy or award is a valuable visual. People want to win and creating a contest to win an event helps make it fun by turning the goal into a game. The trophy or award merely represents the goal in a tangible way and gives everyone something to work toward. Typical trophies or awards for employees are plaque, glass, acrylic (lucite), or even crystal, depending on your budget or the value of the goal. Because of the cost of raw materials, a quality acrylic award may cost as much or more than a crystal piece. But if you get the crystal piece engraved with sand blasting, the value will definitely be increased in the eyes of the recipient.



The Size of the Trophy

When considering what type of trophy to get, they nearly all come in several sizes. Bigger is better in terms of its perceived value, but bigger is more expensive, too. So your budget should be taken into account. And most importantly, the trophy or award you give should be appropriately sized. A small trophy or medal is perfect for the youth athlete, a larger marble trophy would fit a high school student, and a medium sized crystal award would be perfect for the employee who demonstrated one of your company values in an extraordinary way. You don’t want the award to be too small, but it can be too large, too. So give this a little thought when selecting your trophies.

You might also need to get different sized trophies for each level of accomplishment. In this case, maybe you need to get a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies. In this case each trophy should be a different size and maybe a different color, too. First place should be the largest and each successive placement should be smaller.

Personalization

A trophy or an award should be personalized to explain the event the trophy represents, the date the trophy or award was earned, any details about the accomplishment like the number of books someone read during summer break, the score of the winning football game, or the dollars of real estate sold by an agent. All these things make the trophy a one-of-a-kind award that will be even more treasured and given a place of respect.

Personalization can be a laser engraved tag on the front of a trophy, a hand written certificate, a color printed plaque or glass award, or a sand blasted piece of crystal. Each type of personalization should be appropriate for the award and accent the award. It is amazing what a color logo will do to a piece of glass or a presentation plaque. It is well worth the extra cost.

The Right Trophy Company

Finally, make sure you work with a trophy supplier you trust to help bring your vision to reality. Look at their selection, look at their reviews, ask others about the quality of their work. When you take a few minutes to consider all the aspects of getting a trophy or award, your experience and outcome will be better.