A perpetual award works if this cycle runs once a year without depending on anyone remembering it. That is the part we take off you.
Records
Perpetual awards,
kept properly
A perpetual trophy is the only award a club owns rather than gives away. It survives every committee, and it fails the same way every time: nobody knows where last year’s plate came from, and the new one does not match. This is how the record is actually kept.
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Artwork held on file
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Winner history kept
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We remind you
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The annual cycle
The same five steps, every year
01
We remind you, before you need it
Ahead of your presentation night we come to you with the trophy, last year’s wording and the plate layout already on file. Nobody has to find the paperwork, because the paperwork is ours.
What we need: nothing
02
You send this year’s winner
One name, one year, one grade. That is the whole input — everything else is already recorded against the trophy from the last time it ran.
What we need: the name and the year
03
We cut a plate that matches
Same font, same size, same spacing and the same plate stock as the ones above it. Matching is the entire job; a new plate that is subtly different is worse than no plate at all.
What we need: proof approval
04
The trophy comes back before the night
Fitted and cleaned, back with you in time to be presented. If the trophy is engraved directly rather than plated, it comes back with the new line cut in the same hand as the last thirty.
What we need: the trophy, and a date
05
We update the record
This year’s winner joins the history we hold against your account, so next year starts at step one again whoever is on the committee by then.
What we need: nothing
What we hold
The record behind the trophy
Four things kept on file per perpetual award. Between them they are the reason a plate cut in 2031 sits with one cut in 1998.
What is kept on file
What
Why it matters
Who usually loses it
Plate specification
Size, stock, finish and fixing — so a new plate physically fits the space left
Nobody records it; it lives in the last invoice
Type layout
Font, size, line order and spacing, so the new name reads as part of the set
Changes whenever a different supplier is used
Winner history
Every name and year, in order, independent of the trophy itself
The outgoing secretary’s laptop
Artwork
The crest or club mark as originally engraved, not a fresh download
Replaced by whatever logo file is current
This is why switching engraver mid-life is where most perpetual trophies stop matching — the trophy moves, the record does not.
Matching what is already there
Old plates are a photograph away
01
Send a photograph first
Straight on, in daylight, with something for scale. From that we can read the font, the plate size and the layout well enough to match them.
02
We match, or we tell you
Some older engraving used typefaces nobody sets any more. Where an exact match is impossible we say so and show you the nearest, rather than quietly using something close.
03
Then it is on file forever
Matched once, held from then on. The next committee does not have to have this conversation.
Trophies we did not supply
We add plates to perpetual awards bought anywhere, including ones older than we are. The record starts the day you send the photograph.
When it fills up
Every board runs out eventually
01
Plan it a few years out
Count the spaces left and divide by one a year. Most clubs discover the problem in the week of the presentation, which is the one week it cannot be solved.
02
A matching second board
The usual answer: a companion board that continues the series, same timber and layout, mounted beside the original.
03
Or a re-layout
Where the original is beautiful and the spacing is generous, re-plating in a tighter layout can buy another decade. We will tell you honestly which is better value.
04
A base extension for cups
For a perpetual cup that has run out of plinth, a matched extension or a second tier keeps the piece and its history together.
What we would not do
Start a second board in a different style. Two boards that do not match read as two clubs, and the history stops being one record.
Being straight about it
Four things that go wrong, and what to do
All four are recoverable. None of them is recoverable quickly in the week of a presentation night.
One
The trophy is missing
Usually with a past winner or a former committee member. Start asking in September, not the week of the night — and if it does not surface, a replica from the record is possible because the record exists.
Two
A year was never engraved
Common after a season nobody wants to remember. A plate can be cut retrospectively and fitted in sequence, so the gap closes properly.
Three
A name is wrong on an old plate
A single plate can be re-cut and replaced without touching the ones around it. Send a photograph and the correct spelling.
Four
Nobody knows the history
Photograph the whole board or plinth and send it. We will transcribe it into a record you hold, which is worth doing before the next committee turns over.
Good to know
Perpetual award questions
Do you keep our winner history?
Yes — names, years, plate specification, layout and artwork are held against your account, and we come to you ahead of your presentation night rather than waiting to be asked.
Can you add plates to a trophy we did not buy from you?
Yes, including trophies older than the business. Send a photograph of an existing plate and we will match the font, size and spacing, or tell you plainly where an exact match is not possible.
What if the trophy has to be sent to you?
Pack it as though it will be dropped, because in transit it may be. Tell us it is coming and we will confirm the return date before your night, not after it.
Can a perpetual trophy be replaced if it is lost?
A replica can be made and the history re-engraved from the record — which is the argument for the record existing somewhere other than one person’s memory.
How far ahead should we send it?
Earlier than feels necessary. The engraving is quick; the freight and the finding of the trophy are not. Give us your presentation date and the quote carries dated timings for your own order.
Should we start a new board or re-lay the old one?
It depends on the board. Send a photograph with the spacing visible and we will tell you which is better value, including when the honest answer is to do nothing for another two years.
Next
Where people go from here
Australian trophy makers since 1984
Send a photograph of the board
That is the whole starting point. From one photograph we can match the plates, transcribe the history and take the annual reminder off your committee for good.