Members Area
Members Area
Trophies on display at the David Beach Awards
If you have ever won an award you know the feeling. Your name is announced. You feel a mixture of pride, elation, and disbelief. All that hard work has been recognised and you feel overwhelmed as you make your way to the podium to receive the trophy and raise it high in the air!
And then what? Does it go in pride of place in your society’s trophy cabinet? Or on your mantlepiece at home? Or does it roll around in the boot of your car for twelve months until it is time to hand it back dirty, dented and neglected? Think it can’t happen? Well unfortunately exactly that did happen – and a lot more besides. Back in the days of the old Spotlight, I highlighted some of the disasters that had befallen trophies:
One of the cups for the David Beach Trophy was involved in an unfortunate contretemps with a collapsing car seat. The seat had been lifted up to allow the owner to reach in to the items on the back seat. Unseen, said cup rolled beneath the seat which, when replaced to its rightful position converted the round and pristine cup into a twisted and deformed piece of scrap metal. One brand new trophy was so heavy that it split the cheap Tesco plastic bag it was being carried in and crashed ingloriously to the ground. Fortunately, damage on that occasion was minimal and it was swiftly, and invisibly, repaired. Not such a swift repair was carried out on the trophy that for years has been proudly handed out and returned stuck together by Blutack. And then of course there was the case of the trophy that went missing only to be discovered in the boot of the car where the proud winner had placed it twelve months earlier and promptly forgotten all about it!
So not all trophies are loved cherished and cared for. But they do cause a lot of heartache. The poor old competition co-ordinators have a busy job managing all the competition entries, arranging adjudicators’ visits, organising the awards ceremonies and all that goes with it. On top of that they end up driving here there and everywhere to pick up trophies from last year. They are supposed to be returned on time, polished and gleaming and, where appropriate, engraved and, to be fair, many of them are. But some are returned late, damaged, dirty, with no engravings or, in some cases they are not returned at all. Lost. Missing. Or with recipients who have mysteriously vanished of the face of the earth! Whatever the plight that has befallen the trophies, it is the poor old co-ordinators who end up picking up all the pieces. Sometimes literally!
All this has prompted the committee to rethink our trophy policy. The issue was discussed at this year’s AGM and some interesting ideas were put forward. Suggestions included abandoning trophies and giving out framed certificates instead that, obviously, recipients could keep. Or presenting trophies only for the top few awards and certificates for the rest. It was also suggested that we could present trophies on the night for photos to be taken but the trophies themselves remain wth the SFD.
There are lots of practical difficulties involved with the varying solutions and the SFD committee will consider all the options before deciding on the way forward. But before the committee meets to decide, we would like to hear from you. What do you think? Should we continue as we are? Should we hand out certificates? Is there another suggestion we have not yet thought of? Let us know what you think. Email me at: [email protected]