Types of Trophies and Awards

When someone mentions the word “Trophy”, what typically comes to mind? Probably a gold figure of a football player or some other sport mounted on a column and then on a base with an engraved tag on the front. This iconic image is a very common trophy design and has been around for generations. Another iconic trophy design is the metal cup which has been around for hundreds of years. While these trophy types are tried and true, other types of trophies and awards do exist and each fills a slightly different role.

Award Medals

Medals are made from metal, glass, wood, plastic or some other material. They typically have the front designed to commemorate a sport, such as baseball or pickle ball, or an event, such as a marathon race. The back of the object can be plain or engraved to add more details about the award, such as the place, date, class, or even the name of the person receiving the medal. This is typically hung on a neck ribbon in a color or pattern to accentuate the medal, placement, or event. Award medals are typically used for sporting events, school events, or even social events, like an art show. The medals often come in gold, silver and bronze finishes to signify 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Award medals can range in price from a few dollars each for iron or zinc medals with no engraving on the back to much, much more for something like the Olympic medals which are plated in actual precious metals. Custom medals for special events can be cast in any shape and have paint, glass or other colors added to the surface. These custom medals take several weeks to make and typically have a minimum order of 100. Semi-custom medals use a blank medal to start with and add a colored image to the front. These medals take only a few days to make and have much smaller or no minimum orders.

Acrylic Awards

Acrylic awards are made from acrylic, as the name implies. These trophies are more modern than medals or cup trophies having been introduced within the last 50 years or so. They come in a variety of shapes and can even be cut into custom shapes with the use of a laser. Often acrylic awards have an added decal, metal plate insert, or color print added to make the award more custom. Because acrylic is a plastic, it can also be engraved with a laser engraving machine. Simple acrylic awards with an insert are appropriate for young team players or students who excel in a topic. More substantial acrylic awards with added laser engraving or color print additions would be perfect for employee recognition awards, particularly with the addition of a company logo on the award.

Plaque Awards

Sometimes, when you want to give out an award but a trophy or traditional form of recognition just doesn’t seem appropriate, then a plaque award may the best choice. Award plaques or trophy award plaques can be small, like a 5”x7” wooden plaque with an activity insert and an acrylic engraved plate to more traditional wood plaques with a brass plate with personalized engraving. The wood in the plaque can be inexpensive fabricated wood, or it can be solid wood, like black walnut. The personalization on the front of the plaque trophy award can include a color logo, color text, or both. Picture plaques combine a photo with engraved text so you can show a photograph of a person, location, or a team.

Traditional Trophies

Traditional trophies are what most people think of when you mention the word “trophy”. They consist of a figure, a column, and a base. The figure can be a sports image, like a base ball player with a bat - male or female, for instance. Or it can be an icon symbolizing an activity like a Pinewood Derby car for the popular Scout competition or a lamp which signifies the “Lamp of Knowledge” for academic awards. The figure can also be a generic shape like a diamond or star with a place for an insert like a decal or color image representing an activity like a walleye for sport fishing or an atom for science awards. The figure will often sit atop a column that can be in various lengths, style and colors. Typically the taller columns are for higher placement awards while the shorter columns are for lower placement. A traditional trophy can have something called a riser added to the column to give the trophy more height and a little more bling. The trophy is a conical piece the same color and finish as the figure and sits at the bottom of the column. Another thing that can be added to the column is a small trophy cup. This makes the whole trophy more grand. The entire trophy will sit on a base that may be plastic, wood, or marble. Depending on the type and size of trophy parts, the trophy could be classified as an economy trophy because of its lower price. Nicer traditional trophies will have larger marble bases with felt pads on the bottom to protect furniture. All traditional trophies have an engraved plate on the base. The economy trophies have a smaller plate with smaller text, but all trophies have an engraved plate on the base.

Trim Trophies

Trim trophies take the traditional trophy, put it on a larger marble base and add another smaller figure that can be the placement of the trophy, 1st, 2nd or 3rd. This adds more class and information to the trophy without cluttering up the engraved plate on the bottom. The plate can then be engraved with other information like the name of the event, the class of the award, the name of the winner, the date of the event, or the location. The trim piece can also be the year the trophy was awarded, too.

Championship Trophies

Championship trophies are larger than traditional trophies and are made with larger columns, larger bases, multiple pieces of marble, and/or multiple columns. These are the trophies that are handed out to the winning places of championship games, tournaments, and games of importance. On the QuickTrophy web site we break the championship trophies into 2 groups - double marble trophies that have 2 pieces of marble in each trophy, and the multi-column trophies that have 2, 3, or 4 columns per trophy and have 2 layers of base material to create a more substantial trophy. The championship trophies come in multiple sizes so you can order a large one for the 1st place and smaller trophies for 2nd and 3rd places.

Perpetual Trophies

Perpetual trophies have multiple large bases to keep track of winners over time. These trophies are also known as traveling trophies as the bragging rights for the award travel to a different person or team each year depending on who wins the contest. The base of the perpetual trophy has a large plate to engrave the name of the event the trophy commemorates. Smaller plates are engraved with the winning person or team each year along with the year so you can keep track of who won each year for many years to come. The smaller plates are attached to the base in consecutive order and can wrap around the base until it is filled. Other things can engraved on the smaller plates such as the score of the game or the weight of the winning fish. Perpetual trophies can also be used for employee recognition events like employee of the month, employees that win sales contests or those that exemplify company values.

Crystal Trophy Awards

Crystal trophies are typically used for employee recognition. They used to be made from leaded crystal, but are now made from lead-free K-9 optic crystal. The crystal pieces can sit on a base that is engraved with a plate listing the award and the recipient. Or the award itself may be sand blasted with the personalization and the company logo. Crystal awards are more expensive and thus awarded for big deal accomplishments. With the advent of UV color printing, crystal awards can now be personalized with full color logos and images of all kinds to really make the award pop. Some crystal awards are even works of art in themselves and thus lend themselves to display with pride in a public living area instead of just an office space. When you need your award to be something really special, crystal trophy awards are the way to go.