From Bill's Blog: Merits of replacing bronze participation medals

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by EricH

[ ... ] how many teams actually give the second trophy to a sponsor? (And how many sponsors already have too many?)

Can sponsors have too few trophies displaying their outreach efforts? Some teams cycle through minor sponsors like candy some years while others have one or two major sponsors. Some teams, like mine, are in between. We still don't have a trophy at every one of our sponsors, and we've won a plethora of awards. We make plaques for each sponsor instead, but that doesn't mean we don't want to specifically recognize the help that was given to us by the one sponsor that goes the extra mile. A sponsor helped us win Engineering Inspiration in 2008 with a mentor who reviewed our writing and guided us with presentation, so of course that EI trophy went to that sponsor. We definitely do not want to stop this practice.

On top of that, we are SO CLOSE to having a fuller display cabinet at the school than the football team. All we need is a regional win or a national award coupled with a regional award (granted the school has only been around for 6 years, but it has a good football team...).

[EricH]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Can sponsors have too few trophies displaying their outreach efforts? Some teams cycle through minor sponsors like candy some years while others have one or two major sponsors. Some teams, like mine, are in between. We still don't have a trophy at every one of our sponsors, and we've won a plethora of awards. We make plaques for each sponsor instead, but that doesn't mean we don't want to specifically recognize the help that was given to us by the one sponsor that goes the extra mile. A sponsor helped us win Engineering Inspiration in 2008 with a mentor who reviewed our writing and guided us with presentation, so of course that EI trophy went to that sponsor. We definitely do not want to stop this practice.

On top of that, we are SO CLOSE to having a fuller display cabinet at the school than the football team. All we need is a regional win or a national award coupled with a regional award (granted the school has only been around for 6 years, but it has a good football team...).

Exactly. Many teams already give their sponsors plaques or certificates or yearbooks instead of FRC trophies. Said teams wind up with their trophy space disappearing due to double trophies. So, you ship one trophy to each event. Teams winning an award at the event have the option to order another, either paying for shipping or not paying at all (FIRST gets the cost). Or you say, such-and-such local awards company has the pattern, talk to them and they'll get you the trophy. Now the team can choose to get the second trophy and give it to the sponsor, or not.