Unusual and Unique Trophy Designs

Trophies are a big part of all sports and many non-sporting events, but the standard design of a figure on a stand gets a little boring. You’ll have no trouble remembering what you did to earn the trophy, but if any organization wants to stand out from the crowd, a unique or unusual trophy design is the way to go.

Custom Designed Trophies
You might be able to look through catalogues and brochures to find some outside the box trophy designs, but if you really want to be unique, a custom design is probably the way to go. When you have your trophies custom made, you get to choose the shape, the material and the details that set it apart.

When you’re in on each step of the design process and actually have to approve the finished product before they are produced, you can really bring out your creative side.

When to Be Unusual

Unique and unusual can work when you have to produce tens or hundreds of trophies, but it is probably best suited for the singular trophy. Individual sports like golf or tennis generally require only one trophy for a tournament champion and some past, real-life examples have really been out there.

Unusual Examples

This first example is from the JP McManus Invitational Pro-Am golf fundraising event. It’s held every five years in Ireland, which gives them a lot of time to come up with ideas like the one pictured above. Darren Clarke is the winner of the event in this particular year, and the trophy looks as though it’s ready to attack him at any moment. Not only is the design kind of bizarre, but it doesn’t look very sturdy, either.

This strange looking trophy is from the 2007 LPGA Mastercard Classic and the golfer is Meaghan Francella. Depending on how you look at it, the trophy can resemble a head of garlic with two branches growing out of it, an upside down onion with the roots still attached or two long alien fingers flashing the peace sign. At least she seems happy!

Ross Fisher looks like he is holding up a garbage can for all to see, but it is actually the trophy for the 2009 Volvo World Match Play Championship. This trophy shows some eye-catching color and is certainly an unusual shape.

Not sure if the PGA Tour’s Lumber Classic is no longer an official tournament because of this strange trophy, but it’s a thought. Here, Jason Gore looks like he is holding up a very chunky bird on a pedestal, and of course the whole thing is made of wood to keep in line with the theme of the tournament.

This last trophy looks more like it belongs in an art gallery than on a golf course. It’s from the European Tour’s Open de Andalucía, and it certainly makes a statement. The fact that the picture is of the trophy all by itself may indicate how difficult such an odd-looking sculpture is to hold. Either that, or the winner didn’t want to be photographed holding it.