Custom Awards for Arts Ceremonies: Color-Coded Oak & Acrylic Trophies for the StC Arts Awards

An arts awards evening recognises very different kinds of contribution on the same stage — the emerging artist, the long-established one, the educator, the patron who quietly made it all possible. The challenge for the award is to honour each of them as an individual while still reading as one coherent set.

For the StC Arts Awards, we designed and produced a full set of trophies built on a simple idea: one shared form, one colour per category. Each piece pairs an engraved natural-oak base with a custom-painted wood block and a bent white acrylic name plate — identical in craft, distinct in colour and content.

One Award Family for Every Category at the StC Arts Awards

The StC Arts Awards celebrate creative achievement across a community — from artists at the very start of their journey to those who have shaped the scene for years, alongside the educators and patrons who support the work. With several distinct categories handed out in a single evening, the brief was for a trophy that felt cohesive as a group photo on the stage, yet let each recipient feel personally recognised.

Natural Oak Base. Painted Wood Block. Bent Acrylic Plate.

Each award is built from three parts, each doing a clear job. The base is a block of natural, unpainted oak, laser-engraved with the StC Arts Awards logo, the year, and a decorative pattern. The bare wood grain and engraving give every trophy the same warm, grounded foundation.

Sitting on the base is a taller wood block finished in a custom colour — gold, olive, teal, burgundy, red — painted in a smooth solid coat while the wood grain still reads subtly through the surface. The colour is what sets each category apart at a glance.

Across the front is a bent white acrylic plate with a soft scalloped top edge, curved to wrap the block. The recipient's name, award category and a small colour accent are applied in clean UV print, so the typography sits crisp against the bright white. The shaped acrylic softens the geometry of the wood and frames the text like a label that belongs there.

A Colour for Every Kind of Recognition

Rather than separating categories with text alone, the set uses colour as the organising logic. Each award category is assigned its own painted tone, repeated in a small accent on the acrylic plate. Lined up on the awards table, the trophies read as a single confident palette; handed over individually, the colour makes each one instantly its recipient's.

• Patron of the Arts Award
• Making a Difference Award
• Emerging Artist Award
• Arts in Education Award
• Established Artist Award
• and further category awards

A Cohesive Set That Still Honours the Individual

The finished trophies do exactly what the ceremony needed: a clear, premium family of awards where the shared form signals "these belong together" and the colour and printed name say "this one is yours." Natural wood for warmth, paint for identity, acrylic for a clean modern face — three materials working toward one recognisable look.

Where This Approach Works

A colour-coded, multi-material award set suits any event that recognises several categories at once: arts and culture awards, community and volunteer recognition, festival and competition prizes, education and student awards, and company programmes with multiple award tiers. The form stays consistent while the palette, engraving and printed content adapt to your event.