Trophy Hunters

General race coordinator discussions.
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TDean
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Trophy Hunters

Post by TDean »

We were kind of getting off the subject with the thread on the WIRL races -- so, I would like to open the subject of trophies/awards here. There was talk about whether a boy should be allowed to win trophies for both Speed (Races) and Design (Best of Show) for the same car.

Certainly if you have 50 or so kids and hand out one 1st, 2nd and 3rd for Speed, and one Best of Show award -- there is going to be a whole lot of disappointed kids. Now losing with grace is a part of the experience these boys are to come away with, but if they feel they have little chance of winning anything they may not be too motivated in the first place. Kids at this age (okay, any age) are very reward oriented.

In my Pack, we hand out 1st, 2nd and 3rd pins for speed, and a 1st an 2nd pin for design for EACH den (we usually have 9 or so dens), and the winners compete in the finals for another set of Pack-wide trophies. To ensure a greater number of boys bring home some hardware you could also give out awards for each rank (Tigers, Wolves, Bears, etc) and/or create different design categories (ie: Most Unusual, Best Craftsmanship, Funniest -- or my favorite: Most Likely to be Used as a Doorstop).

Another thing -- as these races (not including the adult or "all-comers" races) are for the kids -- we allow the kids themselves to vote for the Design/Show categories, rather than have a judging committee. The kids are allowed 2 votes each -- they may vote for their own car if they wish, but they have to vote for two different cars (this prevents a 20-way tie with every boy voting for their own car). This sometimes results in choices that differ greatly from what the adults might have selected, but that's okay...

Lastly, in my District Races the awards are strictly for racing -- NO design or Show trophies handed out at all -- breaks my heart....
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Re: Trophy Hunters

Post by gpraceman »

TDean wrote:We were kind of getting off the subject with the thread on the WIRL races -- so, I would like to open the subject of trophies/awards here.
Sorry Dean, didn't mean to step on your toes, but I had jumped in there (probably while you were composing this) and moved those posts to a new thread at http://derbytalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=87. I'll try to get better about staying in my corner.

Back to the subject of trophies, being our first year in scouting, I was shocked to see our pack handed out ZERO trophies, just medals to the top overall racers. This is quite different than what I had experienced in Awana. The pack even got $300 in savings on our new timer and the race software.

I'm sure this pack is in the minority.
Last edited by gpraceman on Wed Aug 13, 2003 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Randy Lisano
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Awana Grand Prix and Pinewood Derby racing - Where a child, an adult and a small block of wood combine for a lot of fun and memories.
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Re: Trophy Hunters

Post by TDean »

That's okay Randy -- great minds think alike -- I wanted to move those responses myself -- but I don't know how (or if I'm capable...).
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Re: Trophy Hunters

Post by TDean »

gpraceman wrote:
Unfortunately, not everyone has the budget for that, so they limit the number of trophies that a racer can win to try to spread things around more. However, paper is cheap, so why not give out a lot of certificates? Also, the last couple of years, we've been able to get some prizes donated, so with these, certificates and the trophies, there end up being a good number of awards. Donated prizes and certificates are great for the design awards like Best of Show, Most Colorful, etc.
Trophies are surprisingly inexpensive (at least cheaper than I first expected), but I agree that certificates are a nice alternative. Cub Scouts also have different ribboned medal/pins available for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places -- and of course participant patches.

One year I found some plastic "Olympics"-style medals on ribbons that I picked up on clearance for about $0.30 each, and created a label for each with a new award -- one for each member of my den. After our den's races we had a brief ceremony where the boys were each awarded their medals. It was fairly tricky to come up with categories for 9 different cars -- especially the ones that had NO chance of ever winning a speed or design award, but every boy went home with an award.

The next year I made unique ribbons for each boy -- which they attached to the Pinewood Derby car display stand/photo frame combo I designed and were brought to the Blue & Gold banquet as table decorations. It worked out very nicely, if I do say so myself...
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Re: Trophy Hunters

Post by gpraceman »

TDean wrote:The next year I made unique ribbons for each boy -- which they attached to the Pinewood Derby car display stand/photo frame combo I designed and were brought to the Blue & Gold banquet as table decorations. It worked out very nicely, if I do say so myself...
I heard of others making car stands (Stan's site?) and using those as awards. Instead of spending money for trophies for our Open Division race, I made small plaques and added some extra Speed and Design brass plates sold by Awana for use with trophies. These can be cheap to make, it just takes a little time and effort.
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Re: Trophy Hunters

Post by TDean »

The display stands I mentioned were assembled by the boys (as part of their Webelos requirements) and had a "frame" attached behind the car in which we inserted a photo of the boy holding his car. One of the dads in my den was a photographer, he took pictures with his digital camera and we printed out pictures for the stands right there!

If anyone would like specifics on these stands, please e-mail me.

And you're right Randy -- you don't need to have store bought trophies -- the kids take just as much pride (sometimes more) in a unique trophy that was built from scrap items or cheap toys (spray-painted gold) -- especially for the "alternative," and sometimes humorous, categories. :idea:
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Re: Trophy Hunters

Post by Darin McGrew »

TDean wrote:There was talk about whether a boy should be allowed to win trophies for both Speed (Races) and Design (Best of Show) for the same car.
The most typical way to limit cars to a single trophy is to exclude speed winners from design awards. Thus, if the best design wins a speed award, the first-place design award goes to the second-best design, and everyone else moves up one place. IMHO, this makes design awards into a consolation prize for those who don't win "real" (i.e., speed) awards.

We try to keep the design awards and the speed awards comparable. Last year, in each youth division, we had trophies for first-place speed, first-place auto design, and first-place unusual design. We also had ribbons for 2nd-4th place speed, and for several honorable mentions for design. For the adults, we have only a first-place ribbon for speed, and no design awards.
TDean wrote:Certainly if you have 50 or so kids and hand out one 1st, 2nd and 3rd for Speed, and one Best of Show award -- there is going to be a whole lot of disappointed kids. Now losing with grace is a part of the experience these boys are to come away with, but if they feel they have little chance of winning anything they may not be too motivated in the first place. Kids at this age (okay, any age) are very reward oriented.
It's a fine line. If everyone gets an award, then they're basically participation ribbons/patches (which we give to everyone). But if there aren't enough awards, then kids don't think they have a chance of winning. I think we aim for about a third as many awards as we have kids, which seems to work well.
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Re: Trophy Hunters

Post by Wes »

A fellow in Washington state keeps an eye out all year long for potential Grand Prix trophies. He collects car-related "junque" whenever he sees it and stores it away. Right before Grand Prix day he surveys what he has and strarts constructing trophies and awards.

He has a small shop where he attaches spark plugs, hub caps, hood ornaments (hard to find) gear shit knobs, door handles, etc. to finished boards. These then, are used as trophies. Virtually no cost, but a labor of love. The kids love them.

I share your feelings about design awards. They are important. Every kid can go home with an award of some sort: best paint job, best fish car, best wheels, best car colored with crayons, best car buffed with a brick - what ever!

The idea is that all the kids have a good time and want to do this again!.
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