This the time of year to be thinking about what kind of trophies your fleet is going to have for its home regatta this coming season. There have been so many great, unique trophies over the years. What are YOUR favorite trophies? The ones you don't throw away. The ones you display. It would be nice to share a lot of old trophy ideas that worked well, to give everybody ideas for this year. Or maybe you have ideas that have not yet been tried.
One year for season points, CRAM gave out fleece jackets with your sail number and the year embroidered on them. The colors corresponded to the place you took. I still wear mine. Everyone knows how chilly it can be in Michigan.
Leah
Mine is etched glass. It's nearly ten years old. And although the stand is showing wear, the glass still looks great. Got 1st in Hobie 18B at RuffRiders in the early 90's. The etching was a mustang/Hobie rolling in the waves.
A favorite was one that I made for the local fleet, Silver Lake Sailing Club. See attachment. The other was for a Long Distance Race that I set up with CRAM in 2000. It was a framed poster of a local lighthouse during a storm.
Mary,
I can't resist this one.....
The one's with 1st place on them!!
......hehehehe
Bob 
Bob, you are SUCH a big help.
I am starting to feel like your straight man.
But you're right. I should have worded it so it did not sound like they had to be trophies that people had actually won, because probably lots of people have never even won a trophy yet.
What I am looking for is good trophy ideas based on ones people have seen or have made or purchased for regattas. Most regattas operate on a very tight budget, so it is hard to keep coming up with unique, creative, and INEXPENSIVE trophies.
I haven't attended very many "non-local" regattas, so this may be an entirely "old idea"..... But I'll give it a shot.
A few years back (for our Hangover Regatta); the trophies were made of a mast section with a nice wood base. They didn't cost much to make, recycled the mast, and having an actual "boat piece" made it kind of special. I happened to collect one that year.
Dave
One of my favorite's was for winning a Hobie Midwinters East media race. Stolichnaya Vodka was the sponsor and the trophy consists of the average wooden base with a 13 ounce bottle of their finest glued to it. And NO.....I haven't opened it.......hummm. Nothing like a Bloody Mary made with peppered Stoli. Funny, I was looking at the trophy,the date is.......Damm I getting old. Does Vodka get better with age? 
My Fleet 153 favorites include my design of- Florida cypress knees (practically free) sliced long ways on a band saw, then decoupaged with epoxy then add a picture. What works really well for that is "Creative Xerography":
1. xerox a drawing onto a sheet of 3M overhead projector film. 2. then stick that xerox onto fresh epoxy (push out bubbles). 3. peel it off later, and the writing sticks to the epoxy. 4. a thin coat of epoxy, and you are done, even colored pix work well.
5. Do really nice professional-looking tags the same way, by copying your printed page with all the 1,2,3 etc. places BACKWARDS onto the xerox sheet (do it twice). Then spray paint the BACK side, over the writing with gold paint. One or 2 pages makes all of your tags, so cut them up, glue them on, and our cost was near zero. 
Note that metal tags are now 25 cents per letter-- No Way Jose!
When I first started sailing, in late 80's, the Prindle Fleet in San Antonio (yes, there were actually Prindle fleets!) put on a regatta called the "Prindle Classic". They got sponsorship from a local beer distributor (kegs of Foster's), but the real highlight was the trophies. Stained glass, 12" high models of catamarans - and they weren't flat pictures, but real 3D scale models.
One year, I won, and I still display those trophies - the skipper trophy in my office at work, and crew trophy at home on the mantle.
The dedication of the fleet members who made those trophies was remarkable. Some of those original fleet members still sail, but sadly, the fleet is but a shadow of its former past. I'll post a photo when I get a chance. It really is a beautiful trophy.
This year I received a wooden plaque with a white half model of a Hobie20 (hull and sails) on it. It looks very classy and I'm trying to find out where the trophy was made.
David
H20
One of my favorites was from the Hobie Cat Fleet 95 Sandpoint Race in 1994. It was a picture with the race name and position. The picture was the winners boat, on the water during the race. They way they pulled this off was to take pictures of all the sailors on Saturday, then paste the picture on the trophy, just before the awards on Sunday. The six by ten glass frames and pre printed backing with Race and position were done at minimum cost.
Caleb Tarleton
First choice:
Hardware.
Second choice:
My wife's favorite - I don't know if this would be inexpensive in the US, but it is around here:
In the begining of the season (or many seasons), order a great quantity of very elegant custom made plates with a nice photo of a cat and the name of the club/organization printed on it.
The plates are all the same, but for each race, wooden supports engraved with the name of the race and position are ordered and distributed with the plates as prizes.
If you manage to win enough races, you will get a complete set and can invite your friends to have dinner in your trophies!
This helped convince wifes to participate and, once they get the first plate, to keep coming. It helps to give a tropy to each participant in the first race...
For the next season, you change the size of the plate, until you run out of sizes (probably four years) then you change the photo and start again.
Cheers