Trophies vs Plaques

[rdc20]

I recently took Chicago's (very nice) UG Championship trophy out of its box for the first time so that we could put something shiny on our table at the club fair. It's now going back into the box for the foreseeable future.

Trophies, while excellent for posing with in photos, just aren't very practical, especially for college teams. The large ones that you get from big tournaments are difficult to store in an apartment or dorm, and they are even harder to display. It seems like it's almost more common for someone to get stuck with a trophy that they don't really want than for someone to happily take home a trophy and keep it there for years.

Generally speaking, I think that plaques are the better hardware choice for big quizbowl tournaments. They are more durable than trophies, easier to fit into a suitcase, easy to display on a wall, and easy to store.

Inertia is hard to overcome, but I think a good start would be for ACF to explicitly allow hosts to give out plaques as prizes. I also think that IQBT should switch to plaques for future iterations of the UG Championship. With the UG Championship being a newer tournament, there's less of a trophy-giving tradition to break from.

I think that these are the plaques that TQBA gave out when I was in high school. I forget exactly how big they are, but I think they were either 7"x9" or 8"x10", which cost $25 and $30. There are also 12"x15" plaques that cost $57.50, and I think these would be appropriate for a tournament like the UG Championship. For the sake of comparison, it'd be helpful if someone could provide cost figures for trophies of various sizes given out at college tournaments.

[AKKOLADE]

The cost of your trophy was $42, +$5 for the logo insert. It was 28" tall, which was the tallest they had available. I would have made it larger if it was an option.

We went with plaques for 2nd-4th. They were 8"x10". They cost $48 each, with engraving.

[ryanrosenberg]

For Nationals last year, I intentionally decided to order smaller, non-plastic trophies to try to avoid the problems you described. I'd be curious to hear if people liked those or didn't, and what they'd like to see ACF do in the future.

[rdc20]

The cost of your trophy was $42, +$5 for the logo insert. It was 28" tall, which was the tallest they had available. I would have made it larger if it was an option.

We went with plaques for 2nd-4th. They were 8"x10". They cost $48 each, with engraving.

How did shipping costs for the trophy and the plaques compare?

[AKKOLADE]

I'm positive the trophy cost more, but I shipped them all together and can't say for sure. But its dimensions needed a box that the first shipping place didn't have.

I like the idea of a large trophy, specifically a literal six foot tall trophy that you slam on your provost's table and say 'give us money' with.

[Adventure Temple Trail]

For Nationals last year, I intentionally decided to order smaller, non-plastic trophies to try to avoid the problems you described. I'd be curious to hear if people liked those or didn't, and what they'd like to see ACF do in the future.

I thought the specific items from last year were both pretty small and not easily photographed (clear glass + white text/image inside -- doesn't show up well), but the general idea could work if bigger and/or more legible.

A banner might be another option that photographs well and is easier to transport.

[Skepticism and Animal Feed]

The intended audience of college quizbowl trophies isn't college quizbowl players, at least not current ones. No true ACF player needs a trophy to feel accomplished - the satisfaction of learning is all the reward they ever need. Indeed for many years ACF shied away from trophies and gave out tattered old books as prizes.

The intended audience of college quizbowl trophies is non-quizbowl players. Either people who are considering joining the quizbowl team or who are considering funding the quizbowl team. The message the trophy conveys to them is two-fold: (1) quizbowl is a legitimate, well-organized activity that is just as real as any other college club activity, and (2) the team that won this trophy is a legitimate organization, as worthy as any other organization on campus of your patronage and support.

This implies two rules for trophies: (1) they should be as enormous, glittering, and impressive as possible, and (2) as much of the field as is practical should get one.

[ValenciaQBowl]

I strongly endorse Fred's and Bruce's positions here. I've been able to get good budget money at Valencia, and to ask for more money in years when we've exhausted our budget, at least partly because whenever we've won a CC title or come second or third, I make my grumbling players dress up and parade them and an ostentatious trophy in front of our Board of Trustees at their monthly meeting. These are generally local Republican donors who don't know much about our college's mission and literally nothing about quiz bowl, but they like hearing that the college they're affiliated with has won a big trophy.

They're not that hard to take apart if you have to fly, and again, consider their future display an investment in your program's future.

[benchapman]

Robert is right on the money here. Most university quiz bowl teams just don't have an easy place to store something that large (such as a display case) and students generally don't have lots of extra space to hold onto such things.

[eygotem]

Trophies are much cooler

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

I sadly have not had success (or tried) to use trophies to leverage for funding (partially because it sucks) but after 2013 nats we had a horrible time getting that fucking thing into the airplane and back and it was nice for a while but oh my god they are horrible to store and move between teams and after a couple of years the teams have no actual connection to them and they become quite burdensome

[ValenciaQBowl]

Well, after seven or more years, if you don't have a dedicated trophy case or practice room where you can always store it without having to keep moving it, you can always chuck it!

I mean, my Delta Burke tournament is so archaic we still have a traveling trophy, which has had extra bases and small metal placards affixed to it over the years to indicate winners. The team that wins is responsible for paying the $12-15 for a placard to add, and when it's time for a new base I pay for that out of my budget. And some years the previous year's winner forgets to bring it, so it has to get mailed or brought to a different tournament. But the other CC coaches won't let me retire it, as they still like having something to show people. But I get it, won't work for everyone.