[jallerton]

Vampyr, on 2014-January-27, 17:38, said:

Well, the only people who would have an opinion on the matter are those who have received trophies; there is no point in downplaying that fact.

No, other people have opinions on this matter.

Suppose you haven't won a competition yet, but aspire to do so. Would you want to receive a trophy if and when you do win?
Suppose you don't expect to ever win anything. You might still have a view on what other people should receive when they win.
In my county, some of the people who feel strongly about this subject are people who don't tend to win anything.
A member of the county committee has expressed the view that it's difficult to keep track of where all the trophies are, and that it is a lot of effort to persuade the previous year's winners to return the trophy at the appropriate time.

[CSGibson]

trophies in our area are handled in the following way: Winning a trophy entitles you to have your name engraved on it. Trophies are kept at the club, and there is never anything taken home by the winners.

I like the method. I get to look at the history of the event when I visit a club, and if I win a trophy, I'd rather not have it in my home/be responsible for tracking it down the next year.

[Cthulhu D]

CSGibson, on 2014-January-28, 17:18, said:

trophies in our area are handled in the following way: Winning a trophy entitles you to have your name engraved on it. Trophies are kept at the club, and there is never anything taken home by the winners.

I like the method. I get to look at the history of the event when I visit a club, and if I win a trophy, I'd rather not have it in my home/be responsible for tracking it down the next year.

This is how we do it as well, and you may get something else to take home (my last win was a cheque, a medallion and a pen, two before that were cash and bottles of wine). It presumably saves the organisers a lot of hassle as well. I cannot image letting people take the trophies home! You'd never get them back.

[Vampyr]

jallerton, on 2014-January-28, 16:48, said:

No, other people have opinions on this matter.

Suppose you haven't won a competition yet, but aspire to do so. Would you want to receive a trophy if and when you do win?

You are right.

Quote

Suppose you don't expect to ever win anything. You might still have a view on what other people should receive when they win.

Not as clear, apart from how much of the budget of an event should be allocated to cash prizes.

Quote

In my county, some of the people who feel strongly about this subject are people who don't tend to win anything.
A member of the county committee has expressed the view that it's difficult to keep track of where all the trophies are, and that it is a lot of effort to persuade the previous year's winners to return the trophy at the appropriate time.

So people who haven't and won't win a trophy want to sell them? I think that it probably matters how much money would be raised. If a really significant amount would be realised, which would allow the county to do something really special for its members, then maybe there is an upside. Is the collection of trophies really worth more than one or two thousand pounds? If not, then just getting rid of them for the sake of not having them seems a wrong-headed thing to do.

If the main objection is the difficulty of keeping track of them, just don't let people take them home. But still present them, have them engraved, and display them at the event (you could even have all of the trophies on display at events. I think that people would be really interested to look at them and see who the past winners were).

For what it's worth, in my county, each major event has a different main organiser, so a particular committee member has to worry about the whereabouts of only one trophy. Unless they are the organiser of the Lederer, which has three trophies.

[Siegmund]

"Traveling" trophies belong on the wall of the clubhouse, engraved at the sponsor's expense each year, not in someone's living room.

Practical trophies of some kind for all the winners are a very nice idea that is out of fashion most places now. The Montana tournaments all give them: last year we got copper knickknacks in Butte, handcrafted pottery in Helena, engraved glasses in Great Falls, metal water bottles in Missoula... but the idea hasn't spread south. Except for the occasional novice game, nobody in Idaho or Utah gives anything. This year Missoula gave free plays (good for a year, if you need to use them at next year's tournament) instead of buying a product to give away... it was a nice gesture, but it didn't feel as special as what they used to do.

Of course that may be because I played for years in a club where the winners every week got either a free play or their entry fee back in cash. I was sort of offended the first time I won somewhere else and got nothing but a weird look from the club manager after the session when I came up to him with my hand out... found out the hard way that is rare too.

[Cromlyn]

It is embarrassing to receive a trophy for a card game. Non bridge players are distinctly unimpressed
while your fellow bridge players think the trophy should have been theirs . . .

I once won a trophy that had gone missing - no-one had bothered to make a note of who had won it
the previous year. It was really embarrassing not to be able to produce it the following year!

If there has to be a prize lets have something useful. But I would much rather have nothing -
the pleasure of playing bridge is an end in itself.

[Vampyr]

Siegmund, on 2014-January-31, 00:20, said:

Of course that may be because I played for years in a club where the winners every week got either a free play or their entry fee back in cash. I was sort of offended the first time I won somewhere else and got nothing but a weird look from the club manager after the session when I came up to him with my hand out... found out the hard way that is rare too.

Here it is normal for he first few places at a club game to get cash prizes.

[RunemPard]

Anything that can hang on the wall at a club is a good prize. I hope to someday win an event here in Sweden to have my paper on our clubs wall.

[cherdano]

paulg, on 2014-January-27, 12:15, said:

A photograph of being presented with the trophy, just before handing it back, seems ideal.

Agree, if there is someone who has good photoshop skills around you don't even need a trophy!

[cherdano]

awm, on 2014-January-28, 14:22, said:

I'd prefer something actually useful, like mugs or wine glasses or a nice pen with the name of the tournament and/or event. Sometimes regional tournaments in the US give these out (although they often have less-useful prizes too). Trophies are okay but they eventually end up just taking up space...

I have enough mugs, got enough wine glasses of $1.50 each to throw a big party, and would rather pick nice wine glasses myself, thank you.

[cherdano]

I would vote for the 5th options - selling them would be disrespectful to whoever donated them or whose name is engraved in them. But why anyone would want them, or would spend money to donate one, is beyond me.

[WellSpyder]

Vampyr, on 2014-February-01, 13:46, said:

Here it is normal for he first few places at a club game to get cash prizes.

It is? I think I have been playing at the wrong clubs for the past 30 years....

[paulg]

cherdano, on 2014-February-02, 08:15, said:

But why anyone would spend money to donate one, is beyond me.

Most of the eleven trophies at the Berwick club were bequests. Eleven trophies is a lot for a club that only meets twice a week from September to May and some of the sessions are already overloaded, counting for more than one trophy. I expect the committee is working hard with the club's older members to try and prevent any more donations, but I'm not sure how successful they'll be.

[paulg]

Vampyr, on 2014-February-01, 13:46, said:

Here it is normal for he first few places at a club game to get cash prizes.

I suspect 'here' is a circle with a very small radius.

[TMorris]

paulg, on 2014-February-03, 05:30, said:

I suspect 'here' is a circle with a very small radius.

My club which is loosely in the same part of the world as Vampyr's also has cash prizes for the first few places (maybe this is a small circle) although they haven't risen for the at least the last ten years so don't usually cover the table money most of the time (this has increased). We are in our 76th year and on counting have accumulated 16 trophies of various sorts, mainly cups. One (the individual trophy) is now never played for and one I believe is for our (small) rubber bridge section. People seem to like taking them home from the AGM which I think would have a rather lower attendance if no trophies were given out.

With regard to keeping track of them the club secretary keeps a note of who takes them from the AGM but it would be easy enough at a county AGM I would have thought to get a signed receipt at some point after the formal business is over.