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The trophy is a reward for a specific achievement, and usually afterwards serves as proof of merit. They are most often awarded with sporting events. These range from youth sports through professional level athletics. Often, the reward of the trophy is not simply in winning it; rather, those who win it cherish the legacy that also comes with the trophy.

In many sports medals are often given out either instead of or along with trophies, such as: gold medals, silver medals, and bronze medals or commemorative medals.

Etymology
Trophies have marked victories since ancient times. The English word trophy was derived from the French trophée in 1513, "a spoil or prize of war", from Old French trophee, from Latin trophaeum, monument to victory, variant of tropaeum, from Greek tropaion, from neuter of tropaios, of defeat, from tropē, meaing "to rout" originally from "turning".

In ancient Greece, trophies were made on the battlefields of victorious battles, from captured arms and standards, and were hung upon a tree or a large stake made to resemble a warrior. Often, these ancient trophies were inscribed with a story of the battle and were dedicated to various gods. Trophies made about naval victories sometimes consisted of entire ships (or what remained of them) laid out on the beach. To destroy a trophy was considered a sacrilege.

The ancient Romans kept their trophies closer to home. The Romans built magnificent trophies in Rome, including columns and arches atop a foundation. Most of the stone trophies that once adorned huge stone memorials in Rome have been long since stolen.

History
In ancient Greece, the winners of the Olimpic games initially received no trophies except laurel wreaths. Later the winner also received an amphora with sacred olive oil. In local games, the winners received different trophies, such as a tripod vase, a bronze shield or a silver cup.

In ancient Rome, money usually was given to winners instead of trophies.

During the Middle Ages, chalices were given to winners of sporting events at least as early as the very late 1600s in the New World. For example the Kyp Cup (made by silversmith Jesse Kyp), a small two-handled sterling cup in the Henry Ford Museum, was given to the winner of a horse race between two towns in New England in about 1699. Chalices, particularly, are associated with sporting events, and were traditionally made in silver. Winners of horse races, and later boating and early automobile races, were the typical recipients of these trophies. The Davis Cup, Stanley Cup, and numerous World Cups are all now famous cup-shaped trophies given to sports winners.

Today, trophies are much less expensive, and thus much more pervasive, thanks to mass produced plastic trophies.

Types
thumb|upright|right|The [[Premier League trophy]]Trophies can take the shape of two-handled cups, bowls, or mugs (all usually engraved); statues of people, animals, and architecture while displaying words, numbers or images. While trophies traditionally have been made with metal figures, wood columns, and wood bases, in recent years they have been made with plastic figures and marble bases. This is to retain the weight traditionally associated with a quality award and make them more affordable to use as recognition items. Recently trophies have also been made using a resin and molds.

The Academy Awards Oscar is a trophy with a stylized human; the Hugo Award for science fiction is a space ship; and the Wimbledon awards for its singles champions are a large loving cup for men and a large silver plate for women.

A loving-cup trophy is a common variety of trophy ; it is a cup shape, usually on a pedestal, with two or more handles, and is often made from silver or silver plate.

Hunting trophies are reminders of successes from hunting animals, such as an animal's head mounted to be hung on a wall.

Resin trophies come in a variety of sports or even in generic forms. These resin awards are often used for participation awards and can be custom made to include an event logo. These can be custom molded to create a unique trophy for businesses, youth sports organizations, and non profits alike.

Sporting
Some sporting trophies include:

Association football

 * The FA Cup- awarded to winners of the primary English association football domestic knockout tournament, officially The Football Association Challenge Cup, often referred to as just the FA Cup. The tournament is the oldest such in club football.
 * The Scottish Cup - awarded to the winners of the primary domestic knockout cup tournament of Scotland (the Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, or just Scottish Cup) and the oldest national trophy still awarded in the world.
 * Premier League Trophy &mdash; Awarded to the Premier League Champions of England. Known by several names since its creation, often icluding the sponsor's name or the use of Premiership instead of Premier League prior to the 2007 rebranding. Coloquially referred to as the Premier League Trophy or Premiership Trophy.
 * FIFA World Cup Trophy &mdash; Awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup from the 1974 FIFA World Cup onwards. Previous winners were awarded the Jules Rimet Trophy (known simply as Victory until 1949), which was awarded in perpetuity to Brazil after their 3rd win in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Both are referred to colloquially as the World Cup
 * European Champion Clubs' Cup - colloquially the European Cup, awarded to the winners of the European Cup (before 1992/3) and the UEFA Champions League (since 1992/3).
 * Football League Championship Trophy' – Awarded to The English Football League's champion

Four trophies have served as an award (out of five made) for the winner of the FA Cup. The first (1871–1895) was stolen in Birmingham and melted down, the second (1896–1910) was presented to Lord Kinnaird and is presently held by David Gold, the chairman of Birmingham City after private auction in 2005. The third (1910–1992) was retired after the 1992 final due to fragility and is held by The Football Association; two exact replicas of it were made, one of which has been awarded to the winners 1993–present, the other remains as a backup in case of damage to the primary trophy.

The original Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen in Brazil in 1983 and has never been recovered. Replicas were awarded to winning nations up to the retirement of the genuine trophy. However, prior to the 1966 final, The Football Association made an (unauthorised) replica in secret in gilded bronze for use in post-match celebrations due to security concerns – the genuine trophy was made out of close to 2 kg of pure gold. This has led to several conspiracy theories regarding which trophy was stolen – the FA replica, or the real trophy. FIFA purchased the replica for £254,500 (ten times the reserve price) in 1997, with the inflated price attributed to such rumours. This trophy is held on behalf of FIFA by the National Football Museum in Preston.

Clubs that win the European Champion Clubs' Cup three times in successive seasons, or five times in total, are permitted to retain the trophy in perpetuity. The present trophy has been used since 2005/06 after Liverpool FC's fifth win in 2005. The original trophy was awarded to Real Madrid CF in 1966 (after their sixth win) – the present trophy is the sixth (identical) edition.

Tennis

 * Wimbledon tennis trophies - although having no formal name, a cup is presented to the Wimbledon Men's (Gentlemen's) Singles Champion (The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champion of the World, as stated on the cup itself). The women's (Ladies) Singles winner is presented with the Venus Rosewater Dish. Other trophies are presented to the winners of the Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

Motorsport

 * Borg-Warner Trophy &mdash; Awarded to the Indianapolis 500 Champion.

Rugby league

 * Challenge Cup, rugby league's oldest knock-out competition. Notable for the wide range of teams which start, some taken from amateur ranks, "developing nations" and university teams.

Rugby union

 * Webb Ellis Cup – Awarded to rugby union's World Champion
 * Bledisloe Cup – Awarded annually to the winner between New Zealand and Australia.
 * Calcutta Cup – Awarded annually to the winner between England and Scotland in rugby union

Cricket

 * The Ashes Urn – widely considered to be presented as a trophy to the winning team of the biennial cricket test series between England and Australia. However, the urn itself was never a trophy and remains in the MCC Cricket Museum at Lord's Cricket Ground. Only from 1998–99 were the winners of the Ashes presented with a replica (not to scale) of the urn in Waterford Crystal.

Sailing

 * America's Cup – Awarded to Yacht Racing Champion

AFL

 * McClelland Trophy – Awarded to the Australian Football League's Home & Away season / Minor Premiership champion.

North American sports

 * Heisman Trophy – Awarded to the NCAA's Most Valuable Player in College Football
 * BCS Trophy – Awarded to College Football's National Champion
 * Vanier Cup – Awarded to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport football champion
 * Grey Cup – Awarded to the Canadian Football League's champion
 * Stanley Cup – Awarded to the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup Champion
 * Commissioner's Trophy – Awarded to Major League Baseball's World Series Champion
 * Vince Lombardi Trophy – Awarded to the National Football League's Super Bowl champion
 * Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy – Awarded to the National Basketball Association's champion
 * MLS Cup – Awarded to the Major League Soccer's champion
 * Old Oaken Bucket – A college football rivalry trophy
 * Mann Cup – An Indoor Lacrosse trophy awarded to the senior men's lacrosse champions of Canada.
 * Steinfeld Cup – Awarded to the Major League Lacrosse champion
 * Champion's Cup – Awarded to the National Lacrosse League champion

Many combat sports, such as boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling use championship belts as trophies; however, unlike most of the trophies mentioned above, a new one is not created every time a new champion is crowned; rather, the new champion takes the belt from the old one.

Military
The United States military also issues a type of trophy which are known as "non-portable decorations". This indicates that the trophy carries the status of a military award, but is not meant to be worn on a uniform but rather is presented for static display. Such military trophies include athletic excellence awards, unit excellence awards, and superior service awards presented annually to the top service member of a command.

Professional awards
Many professional associations award trophies in recognition of outstanding work in their respective fields. Some examples of such awards include:


 * Collier Trophy – Awarded by the US National Aeronautics Association for outstanding work in aviation engineering.
 * Harmon Trophy – Awarded by the Clifford B. Harmon Trust for outstanding achievement in aviation or ballooning.

Hunting
In hunting, although competition trophies like those mentioned above can be awarded, the word trophy more typically refers to an item made from the body of a killed animal and kept as a keepsake.