[CQ-Contest] Award Plaques

[Julius Fazekas]

Hi Dave,

I think there's still a desire to have something "tangible", versus something ethereal.

several contests do distribute certificates via email or a link to an online location, for DX contests with worldwide participation, this does seem to be a cost effective method.

I still have a fondness for engraved certificates, they have a substantial feel to them, but they are history.

Some day, holographic awards will be the rage...

73,
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, David Gilbert <xdavid at cis-broadband.com> wrote:

> From: David Gilbert <xdavid at cis-broadband.com>
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Award Plaques
> To: "CQ-Contest at contesting. com" <CQ-Contest at contesting.com>
> Date: Monday, March 2, 2009, 3:23 PM
> I'm sure I'm a minority of one on this, but it seems
> to me that hardwood 
> plaques are becoming a rather inefficient way of
> recognizing contest 
> achievement.
> 
> 1.  They cost a lot of money, both to make and to ship. 
> Contest 
> sponsors repeatedly have to request donations and
> sponsorships for even 
> the most significant ones.
> 
> 2.  They take time to make and deliver.  Some, at least in
> the past, 
> have taken years.
> 
> 3.  They are limited in terms of graphic capability unless
> really 
> expensive techniques to make them are used.
> 
> 4.  They take up physical space in the winner's shack,
> either on the 
> wall or in a drawer.
> 
> 
> Digital certificates, on the other hand, have none of the
> above 
> limitations.  With a bit of creativity they could become
> gorgeous works 
> of art that could be printed and framed if desired, or
> added to a screen 
> saver if not.  With the right file format they'd be
> almost impossible to 
> alter, and if anyone really wanted to cheat it would be
> easier to do it 
> with a hardwood plaque anyway (your local awards shop will
> make you 
> anything you want).  Digital awards would be cheap to
> produce, and I 
> have to wonder whether it wouldn't encourage more
> serious contest 
> participation if more awards were granted, as in 1st, 2nd,
> 3rd place for 
> each country, zone, state ... grid square ;)  ... whatever.
>   I don't 
> think it lessens the value of a #1 award if the #2 and #3
> positions are 
> also recognized.  It might even be amusing to see various
> contests vie 
> for the most creative and attractive graphics each year.
> 
> Certificates for lesser awards from major contests have
> already been 
> distributed as attached pdf files instead of mailed paper,
> and it just 
> seems to me that there's no great reason anymore to
> ship a block of wood 
> even for the elite awards.
> 
> I'll bet not a single active contester agrees with me,
> but I thought I'd 
> bring it up anyway while we're on the topic.
> 
> 73,
> Dave   AB7E
> 
> 
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