[CQ-Contest] WPX Plaques - Who should win them?

[Dick Green WC1M]

I like the idea of awarding plaques, trophies or even medals to the top
three finishers in each major geographic category: World, Continent,
Country. The awards don't have to be the same: the most expensive award,
probably an engraved plaque or trophy, could go to the winner, with less
expensive awards (smaller plaques/trophies, medals, pins, coffee mugs,
paperweights, etc.) going to the second and third place finishers.
Generally, I favor "hard" awards vs paper awards, but plaque-mounted
certificates with a sheet of acrylic over the paper can look very nice and
are probably cheaper and easier to produce than engraved plaques.

Another idea would be to have a special award for the top ten finisher with
the lowest score deduction. Accuracy should be recognized and promoted. I'd
be willing to sponsor such an award.

On a related note (and pardon me if this isn't politically correct), CQ
plaques and certificates could use a facelift. They look somewhat cheap and
outdated. When I see plaques from CQ WW and ARRL DX hanging on the wall
together, it's always odd to think that the premier contesting event in the
world has the less-attractive plaque. The silver WPX plaque is rather
diminutive as well, but with the darker type at least you can read it from a
distance.

Top-ten finishers should always be recognized, if only with a certificate.
ARRL does a nice job with certificates for DX and IARU. They're attractive
and clearly indicate the placement in large type. The legend printed on WPX
certificates has sometimes been ambiguous -- i.e., not clear whether the
indicated placement is for the area, USA, world, etc. Other times the
certificates have been clear about that, but the small type tends to
minimize the accomplishment of making the top ten.

I have mixed feelings about certificates going to sub-category placers, like
the top three in W1. I've gotten a number of these certificates over the
years, and they don't do much for me. I usually file them instead of
mounting them on the wall. If producing such awards significantly delays
delivery of the major awards, I would drop them. It's not clear that they
provide the intended motivation. Might be better to email computer-generated
participation certificates to anyone submitting a log.

I've always been a bit puzzled by the practice of giving awards to
second-place finishers when the first-place finisher wins a larger area.
While I appreciate the sentiment of spreading awards around, I'd feel sort
of funny getting an also-ran plaque like that. How do I explain to a visitor
that I actually came in second, but the other op won a bigger area so I got
the first place award? I think awarding 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards makes
more sense and spreads the wealth more effectively.

73, Dick WC1M


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Julius Fazekas [mailto:phriendly1 at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 10:05 AM
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com; James Cain
> Cc: Thompson, Randy
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] WPX Plaques - Who should win them?
> 
> That's a good idea!
> 
> Same for/as the certificates... would be nice if they noted a new record
too!
> 
> 72/3,
> julius
> 
> Julius Fazekas
> N2WN
> 
> Tennessee Contest Group
> http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html
> 
> Tennessee QSO Party
> http://www.tnqp.org/
> 
> Elecraft K2/100 #4455
> Elecraft K3/100 #366
> 
> 
> --- On Mon, 3/2/09, James Cain <jamesdavidcain at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > From: James Cain <jamesdavidcain at gmail.com>
> > Subject: [CQ-Contest] WPX Plaques - Who should win them?
> > To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> > Cc: "Thompson, Randy" <k5zd at charter.net>
> > Date: Monday, March 2, 2009, 7:39 AM
> > If I win everything, why not engrave the little plate on my
> > plaque to read:
> >
> > K1TN
> > Top World
> > Top North America
> > Top USA
> >
> > One plaque.
> >
> > But it "uses up" three plaques. That leaves a
> > slush fund for two more plaques. Maintain an additional fund
> > for "miscellaneous," and give second-place plaques
> > to the number two scorers in World, NA, and USA.
> >
> > I would be glad to contribute to such a fund, even in this
> > economy.
> >
> > Surely no one would be "disincentivized" by
> > getting a second-place plaque.
> >
> > Jim Cain, K1TN/2
> > _______________________________________________
> > CQ-Contest mailing list
> > CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest