Acrylic trophy made with CO2 laser engraver

Award and trophy making

Discover how to make a trophy, a medal or a personalized award for your events!

Are you looking to push the boundaries of trophy personalization? Create trophies, make awards, and provide a tangible memento of an event, a competition, or your company. Generate additional sales or offer them as gifts to promote your shop.

Colors, shapes, materials… Design and assemble all the components of an award according to the celebrated occasion. “Wow” effect guaranteed!

Gravotech trophy making machines and materials allow you to reach the pinnacle of creativity, without requiring any specific training or manual skills.

How to make a trophy or an award?

Our mechanical trophy and medal making machines are compatible with engraving and cutting a wide range of materials, including the finest ones used to create a trophy or make an award: metals (aluminum, brass...) and glass engraving (using diamond scribing technology).

They offer greater precision than laser medal and trophy making machines and give access to more complex results like deep or relief engravings (2.5D). Personalized trophies and medals created with a mechanical machine offer a highly qualitative outcome and are often synonymous with prestige.

Feel free to check out our comparison guide of mechanical and laser technologies in signage!

Gravotech offers an extensive range of engraving materials to make an award and create a trophy:

  • Laser Wood is our wooden material, available in various wood types and thicknesses.
  • Acrylics, our acrylic range, can be combined with Laser Wood to create trendy, personalized trophies, awards and medals for all occasions: sports, businesses, various events.
  • Gravobrass™ Exterior is a brass material compatible with mechanical engraving machines, perfect to create trophies that will be heavier, with an authentic appearance.
  • Lastly, Gravostral™ is a two-ply material, ideal for medal making. Engravings are naturally contrasted thanks to the black base color.

Starting in trophy making with acrylic

Make awards that are classic-shaped by assembling a horizontal base and a vertical plaque using a slot on the base. Often made of acrylic to mimic glass or crystal, this type of trophy is simple to create and custom in terms of shapes, colors, and engraving.

Once your two plaque models are created, they can be easily reproduced and customized on the fly.

Acrylics

Start by designing your personalized trophies and awards using a single material. We recommend choosing acrylic combined with laser technology, an easy to work with material that is available in various finishes and colors. This will immediately provide you with a wide range of creative possibilities without being limited by the complexity of your trophy and medal making machine settings.

Add the finishing touch to your personalized trophy with color or a logo using a UV printer. Acrylic is a particularly suitable material for printing. Our materials are perfectly suited for these processes.

Trophy made with clear acrylic

Acrylic-based trophies offer all the benefits of glass trophies without the inconvenience. They are lightweight and elegant, making them extremely easy to create and custom. Our laser trophy and medal making machines can cut any shape, regardless of the thickness of your acrylic sheet.

(The maximum cutting thickness depends on the laser source power of your machine: approximatively 10mm for a 40W CO2 laser.).

Complex trophy making

Do you already know how to make a trophy? Take it to the next level by combining multiple materials, colors and shapes. Replicate items, play with depth and transparency or simulate motion, and create a “Wow” effect that will leave a lasting impression.

The more complex your awards are, the higher the perceived value and quality become.

Acrylic trophy made with CO2 laser engraver

Making a trophy using a combination of wood and acrylic is now prevalent in all fields where awards are presented: sports, science and research, intellectual achievement, corporate events, artistic distinction, and more.

Sturdy and lighter than traditional glass or metal awards, wood and acrylic trophy making is also more straightforward thanks to laser engraving and cutting technologies. Wood and acrylic are particularly suited for this creative process.

The wide range of colors, thicknesses, and different finishes available in both materials opens up endless creative possibilities. The contrasting blend of wood grain and the shine of acrylic provides a sense of quality. You can also introduce contrast to your engravings on acrylic with our range of gilding waxes.

Metallex™ - Engraving material - Gravograph

Create trophies and make awards with metal to create heavy and sturdy awards. Weight is often perceived as a mark of quality.

Brass and aluminum can be engraved and cut using a mechanical trophy and medal making machine, or marked with a CO2 or Fiber laser. A coloring product like Metal Marker G can highlight a text, a name or the distinction when engraved with a CO2 laser.
 

Simple medal making

Just like trophies and awards, medals are evolving and are now available in various materials and material combinations. Create trendy medals using wood or acrylic, maintain a more traditional style by working with metal, or stand out by offering medals that combine multiple materials.

Medal engraving

Medals made from a single material are the easiest to create. Simply cut the desired shape, include a slot for attaching a ribbon, and engrave text, logos, or any other element.

Trendy and modern, acrylic, wood, and brass are the most suitable materials for beginners in medal creation because they are the easiest to engrave and cut with a medal making machine.

Medals made from a single material can be produced quickly, in large quantities and series, allowing you to sell them at a reasonable price while maintaining a good profit margin.

Medal engraving

Using multiple materials to create a medal adds value.

Combine various finishes, colors, thicknesses and textures to create relief and give them a unique personality.

Adding sophistication to a medal is simpler than for a personalized trophy because its shape or assembly is less complex.

Here again the combination of wood and acrylic works perfectly, but using fine and flexible engraving materials like Flexilase™ adds color and highlights the individual's name or the prize won.

By offering original personalized medals composed of two materials, colors, or finishes, you enhance the perceived value of your products, arouse your customers' interest, and stand out from your competitors.

Do you wish to start with easy trophy personalization? Here are our advice!