Tourney Prizes: What would you prefer?

[CvilleFencer]

Okay, so me and some friends have been talking about this and I am curious to get some outside perspectives on it. The catagories are as follows:

Trophy: A nice cup or statue mounted on a wood or stone base, about 10-15" high.

Sword: Not some cheap SS POS but a nice blade that looks good and can stand up to light practice work, but not like a Bugie or Albinion Arms piece. Something along the lines of a Hanwei or Windlass Steelcrafts blade for those of you into swords.

Gift Certificate to the on site equipment vendor: Figure 50-75 dollars.

Art: Hard to describe what this could be but framed art commemerating the event (like the Cherry Blossom Open), statuary or other event specific fencing art like a painting, lithogragh, whatever.

Something else: Please be specific and realistic. A $10,000 dollar first prize or a nice new Aston Martin would be nice, but lets figure something under $100 dollars (and if you can get me a nice Aston for the price please PM me! )

Thanks all!

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Gas money.

[Ordway]

I picked "trophy/cup". Basically I would like something that serves as a reminder of that event, i.e. has the event name, date, & place on it. A gift certificate is cool, but once used up, is gone - no memories attached.

Framed art would also be cool if it included that info. Same with a sword. I have to admit, swords are cool, and the one that I won, I have hanging on my wall. (I did put a sticker on the reverse side with the event & date info on it.)

[Poulet]

A gift certificate is cool, but once used up, is gone - no memories attached.

What would you think of a fancy "certificate of achievement" sheet printed up on nice paper in addition to a gift other than a trophy/medal/thingamajig?

[rcmatthews]

i put trophy/cup, im thinking of a nice crystal cup

[KD5MDK]

I think I'd like all of them. Seriously, winning a few gift certificates a year would be nice to help defray the cost of equipment. Having won at least one sword would make for a nice decorative effect. Art and Cups both have a very strong display "look at what I won!" effect, in my mind. So, I'd say they all attract me. If you're trying to decide what to offer, I'd say look at other tournaments in your area that you're "competing with". Not just within the scheduled month, but in gneneral and at the level of size and reputation that you want. See what they're offering, and depending on what on this list they haven't taken, pick one of those.

[Dr. Pfleschbach]

I like spiffy swords, if they are good enough quality to put on the wall. If they are too cheap looking they'll just wind up in the closet with all my other swag.

[Mr Epee]

Medals - boring after a while

Cheap Trophies - boring and take up loads of space and can be super tacky

Swords - killer idea but I probably have dozen of them, and most are junk

Gift Certificates - Excellent, but should be more than a nominal amount

Money - even better.

Once when I was a kid, I attended a tournament where 1st place was a portable CD player... always thought that was cool...

An iPod would kick ass.

[oiuyt]

I think a couple of weeks ago my chioce would have been a cup/statue or something along those lines (and these would still rank fairly high up -- a reasonable statue on a base, or the crystal that rcmatthews mentioned especially sound appealling). That said, the choice I selected was artwork. I'm very happy with my framed engraving from the Cherry Blossom (Ordway: yes, it includes a small plaque at the base of the frame with result/tournament/location/date information, and I completely agree with you that this is an almost necessary touch (I would also throw a sticker on the back with this information if it were not present, as you did with your sword)). Currently it's edged into the lead as the top choice.

Generally I'd look for something unique -- and any custom art should fit that nicely -- something worthy of display -- depends on the artist I suppose -- and that can convenient fit in my house. Nice thing about art is it's less prone to dust collection than cups and trophies.

Of course if I started collecting too many pieces of wall-art my preference would shift towards something more along the lines of statuary. Again the key is to get something different and cool.

-B

[RITFencing]

While some people might have allergies, I think a cake from a nice (read: gourmet) bakery would be a very cool prize. I could just be influenced by the local ridiculously good place, of course.

http://www.phillipseuropean.com/desserts.asp

[tkrivosh]

i put trophy/cup, im thinking of a nice crystal cup

Come to the Nellya Fencers' Queens' Cup and you'll get your chance at the crytal cup

[Beowulfman6]

Art and Cups both have a very strong display "look at what I won!" effect, in my mind.

Unless it's some gaudy, ugly piece of "art" like the lamp in "A Cristamss Story."

[counterattack]

I have two "spiffy swords" now, and I can say that I think a gift certificate would probably have been better. So I selected "gift certificate". I actually would most prefer a nice trophy, trophies are often shabby. I really liked the Pacific Coast Section Oscar-like trophy, but alas it seems to have only lasted one year. If the spiffy swords had had any sort of engraving to indicate the way they were won then they would count to me as a nice trophy. But the ones I have, though nice swords, have no engraving. I suppose I could have them engraved, but the idea of making my own trophy just strikes me as weird. Other than as trophies, though, I have no use at all for a spiffy sword. And actually they kind of scare my wife who worries that at one of our house parties someone will find them in the study and there will be bloodshed. Even people who don't like swords start to find them cool when they are drunk.

[rcmatthews]

Come to the Nellya Fencers' Queens' Cup and you'll get your chance at the crytal cup

I will probably be at the Queens Cup, but my chances at the crystal trophy, eh, small.

I thought that the heart wreaths at the Cupid Cup were a nice touch, something different and fit for the occasion.

[Mo]

A nice t shirt or sweat shirt, (hoody) with the name of the competition and First Place, Etc on it would be kewl.
Our division gave out t shirts one time from Pro Print for an RYC and the kids really seemed to like them. The rest of the kids knew where they came from so they had that status too.
A gift certificate at a restaurant is nice too.

The division had a gift table and the fencers got to pic in order of what place they came in.
That too worked well.
Momster

[foilhag]

I've always appreciated t-shirt and equipment prizes.

I've also received a bottle of wine as a prize on more than one occasion - very appreciated. (Note, the tournament organizers had back-up prizes should any of the medalists be under age.)

[Schiavona]

This poll is flawed, because I hate you if you have vendors at Division events

Seriously, I've always thought what the Action Pistol folks do was cool. They get most of their prizes donated, BUT they put everything on a "prize table" and everybody gets to pick-in the order that they finished. Really, with all the gear we use how hard would it be to fill up a prize table?

Also, I really like the idea of framed D'Angelo fencing prints. They're just nifty.

[sjpfencer220]

Although I do like having something to commemorate the win, the process of winning usually involves breaking something, usually in a way that 1. I didn't know was possible and 2. That usually turns out to be more expensive than expected. That's why I chose gift certificate; although I was between that and the trophy, I would use to money to make up for what I would spend fixing various broken items or save it (if by a miracle something didn't break) until something did (probably the next time I fenced).

[sjpfencer220]

Once when I was a kid, I attended a tournament where 1st place was a portable CD player... always thought that was cool...

An iPod would kick ass.

This isn't exactly like winning and getting an ipod as the prise, but at the first regional I went to, in novenber 2004 (wow, I have come a long way since then if I don't say so myelf) my parents said that if I came in the top 8 in the Y12 WF, they would buy me an ipod (which I would have gotten anyway for my birthday but it was better to earn it) which was a pretty stupid idea since I won and came in top 8 in 14. Moral: If you want an ipod as the prize for winning a tournament, informally bet someone on it and win it (What's that you say? of course it is ethical, jeez ).

[Inquartata]

"Art is some form" is a statement, not a choice. The poll, therefore, is---guess what?

Ahem.

Anyway, speaking as an economist, I would prefer money. Money is always preferable to in-kind payments, as it offers the receipient the greatest freedom of choice and flexibility.

Also, I have enough gewgaws already, from medals to trophies to glasses to paperweights to artworks. I can buy better swords on my own than the average tournament can afford to give away, even if their buyer knew quality from rubbish.

Cash is king.