Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1490460
3 6 G R A P H I C S P R O • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M Trophies and medals Traditional trophies and medals continue to be popular. While we've seen a resurgence in traditional trophies, we are also starting to see more customers using custom-cut acrylic for trophy toppers or awards. ey are either lasering them, or U V printing. Some dealers are adding LED lights to make the acrylic pop and give even more of a "wow" factor. For the dealers not doing trophies, prod- ucts such as plaques, medals, acrylics, and rings are being used. Small trophies for the younger kids are always a hit. Full-color Full-color decoration like U V printing is trending. is allows dealers to customize more high-end items like crystal, glass, and acrylic as well as low- er-cost options like medals and plaques. is helps dealers be able to satisfy cus- tomers that have had their budgets cut, which has been the case more recently. Market trends "What I have seen is that the popular sports, like soccer, dance, and baseball, where the participation is high at all lev- els, are typically more sensitive to price," Kolenut says. "Where newer organized sports, such as pickle ball or corn hole, are more concerned with what is new on the market." Trends within the sports awards market varies on the sport and age range of the recipients. Different sports gravitate to dif- ferent items. Such as rings for youth base- ball tournaments, which Moore points out they are getting more requests for. "We are finding the popularity of the 'sports chain' at retail, in stadiums, and arenas to be translating into youth sports, challenge events of all kinds, and even the corporate space," Moore says. "e 'sport chain' award is about to blow up in pop- ularity," Wright agrees. "A few years ago, it was just the 'turnover chain,' a specific award for football defensive players. Now it's showing up in all sorts of places." In the running space, it seems that cre- ative medals with spinners, bottle open- ers, and component pieces are popular. T E A M S P O R T S (Image courtesy Simba) (Image courtesy of JDS Industries) (Image courtesy of Marco Awards) 2 3