School sports day awards can be as simple as a sticker or as organised as a full trophy table, and most PE teachers end up somewhere in the middle. This guide helps you decide what to award, how many you need and what to put on the plates. It suits primary and secondary schools, with prices you can drop straight into a budget.
Decide what your sports day is for
Before you order anything, settle one question: is your sports day about individual winners, house points or everyone joining in? Each one needs a different set of awards.
- House competition: the whole event builds to one cup. Individual results become points, and fewer individual awards are needed.
- Individual placings: a 1st, 2nd and 3rd for each year group, often split into boys and girls.
- Taking part: a small award for effort or spirit in each class, along with the winners.
Plenty of schools combine all three: a house cup, a Victor and a Victrix Ludorum for the overall winners, and a small award for each class.
Awards to consider
- House Cup, for the winning house
- Year Group Champion, boy and girl
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each year group
- Sports Personality of the Day
- Most Determined Athlete
- Best Team Spirit, by house or class
- Fastest Pupil, usually decided by the final sprint
- Staff Race Winner, if your teachers are brave
Which trophies suit which age?
Reception and Key Stage 1
Younger children need small and cheerful. The Smiley Star Award is £3.50 at 100mm and £4.50 at 110mm, and it takes a centre. The Mini Shield School Award costs £4.95, with designs for Winner, Star Performer, Well Done and 1st, 2nd or 3rd Place.
Key Stage 2
The Mini Shield still works here, with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place designs. For a step up, the Allstar 1st 2nd 3rd Award costs £7.99 at 145mm. All three of its placings have the same antique gold finish. If you want colours for your placings, the Swirl Cup at 130mm is £5.95 in gold, silver or bronze.
Key Stage 3 and above
Older pupils respond better to something that looks grown-up. The Allstar 1st 2nd 3rd Award at 185mm costs £10.50. The Runner Trophy comes as a male or female figure, from 135mm to 175mm. A Saltire or a Spirit Cup can carry a Sports Day Gold, Silver or Bronze centre for a lower cost.
The house cup
A house cup should look like the most important thing on the table. A Heritage Cup in gold or silver runs from 190mm to 350mm. For a cup that comes out every year, see our trophy cups. Keep the year off the main plate, and record winners on a separate board from shields and plaques.
Using centres on sports day
Centres are useful for schools, and they are included in the price. There are Sports Day, Sports Day Gold, Sports Day Silver and Sports Day Bronze designs, along with 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Fit a Sprint Female, Track Runner or Athletics Male centre for track events. You will find more in our running and athletics trophies. The preview shows your chosen centre fitted.
How many will you need?
Here is a sum for a one-form-entry primary school:
- Seven year groups, from Reception to Year 6.
- A 1st, 2nd and 3rd for boys and for girls in each group makes 6 awards per year.
- That comes to 42 awards.
- Add one house cup, for a total of 43.
At £4.95 for 42 mini shields, the spend is £207.90. Forty-three trophies sit in the 7% band, so that part of the order comes to £193.35 with the discount applied. Smaller schools might do placings for Year 3 to Year 6 only, and a whole-class award for the youngest children. Read how many trophies you need for more ways to count.
Engraving before the day
You will not know the winners until the day itself, so plates cannot carry names unless you order afterwards. There are two sensible routes:
- Before the day: engrave the event, the place and the year group, with no name, so you can present on the field.
- After the day: order once you have the results, and present in a final assembly. That gives each child their own name on the plate.
Every plate can be different at no extra charge, so a list of plates is fine. Slashes show a new line in these examples:
- Sports Day 2027 / 1st Place / Year 4
- Year 6 Champion / Mia Ford / 2027
- House Cup Winners / Blue House / 2027
- Most Determined Athlete / Noah Bell
Keeping it fair for everyone
Sports day can be the worst day of the year for some pupils. An award for effort, teamwork or encouraging others gives a teacher something to give to a child who will never be first over the line. Adapted events help too, and they deserve the same trophies as everything else on the field. Let each class teacher nominate one child for a Well Done award.
Timing and budgets
Summer term fills up fast, so try to get your order in before SATs and exams take over. Pencil in a reserve date in case of rain. If your date moves, an undated plate is one less problem, so consider leaving the date off.
Prices on this site include VAT, and school accounts can see the ex-VAT price too. Quantity discount comes off automatically in the basket, and mixed designs count together, so sports day trophies and leavers' awards can share an order. There is no minimum order.
All of these awards are in our school trophies collection, or see our schools page for the full picture. For more wording, try our wording ideas.