FAQ

At EFX we don’t use AI for trophy design, we have a dedicated team of experienced, professional designers working to create our awards.

While AI can be helpful for a non-designer to express their ideas, it struggles with the complexities of manufacturing, and can even sometimes create impossible designs!

But a professional trophy designer has a vast knowledge of the options available, from materials to manufacturing methods, and can create designs that are truly unique.

Best of all, your trophy designer can work alongside you, making suggestions that you may not have thought of or considered, ensuring your design stays in budget, and makes the impact that you hoped for.

At EFX, we’re incredibly proud of our designs and our designers, and we know that AI has a very long way to go before it can compare to what they do.

Want to find out for yourself? Get in touch with the team today!

The first step is deciding if you’d like a bespoke or off-the-shelf award. A bespoke award is designed specifically for your event and budget, whereas an off-the-shelf award is typically lower cost or available from stock for a speedy delivery. Our sales team are here to help guide you through the process. You can also take a look at our gallery and news stories to see our recent work for inspiration.

If you’d like to know a bit more, we’ve got an in-depth guide on how to create a custom award.

Bespoke awards are designed and created just for you, they’re unique and designed to suit your brand and budget.

Off-the-shelf awards are typically simpler, and can be produced quicker and at a lower cost. Off-the-shelf awards can be customised, but the options are more limited than for a bespoke award.

If you’d like to find out more, have a look at our guide to all the differences between personalised and bespoke trophies.

EFX specialise in providing a full end-to-end service, starting with creating your bespoke design, through to manufacturing and delivery.

We even offer services to help you promote your award, such as detailed video of its design and manufacture, that you can use on social media, websites and more.

Because the majority of our awards are manufactured at our factory at Ettington Park, it means that we can provide you with high quality images and videos of your award’s journey from its initial concept, to the moment it’s lifted.

Sustainability is an easy option with EFX, and we offer a range of different options for creating eco-friendly awards. This includes sustainable materials and manufacturing processes.

This means we can consider your options from your initial design concept, ensuring your design is perfectly balanced between your ideal design, your sustainability requirements and your budget.

Our design team can take inspiration from your previous awards, to create new, modern updates, taking into account any change in requirements or budget.

We love creating distinctive, unique designs that become synonymous with your award or event. Whether your inspiration is your logo, brand or something else entirely, our design team can create something that is unique and instantly recognisable.

There are multiple factors behind the cost of a bespoke award, including:

• The size and complexity of the design
• The materials you want to use
• The number you order
• The level of personalisation
• Any other services, such as promotional videos and presentation boxes

We always recommend you provide a rough budget estimate when you speak to the design team, so they can guide you to the best options for your budget.

Explain that customers don’t need a finished concept. EFX’s design team can develop ideas from a logo, brand guidelines, reference images, a theme or a simple description.

Why it matters: this communicates the value of EFX’s design service immediately.

Off-the-shelf orders typically take 2-3 weeks to complete, from the day you make your order, to the day your award is delivered.

Bespoke awards typically take a little longer, from 4-6 weeks from the date of your initial order.

Lead times depend on design approval, personalisation and delivery requirements, so it’s important to let us know your deadline as soon as you can.

If you need your awards quickly – just let us know and we’ll let you know if we can meet your deadline, as well as the best options for getting your trophies as fast as possible.

There’s no minimum order for bespoke awards, we can fulfill orders for single awards and we’ve also completed orders for thousands of trophies at a time.

Single trophies do tend to be more expensive per item than multiple orders, due to production costs.

We can pack and ship awards to your winners direct, across the UK and around the world, and can arrange the following services to help your event run smoothly:

• Direct delivery to individual winners – we will send you a template to enter the winners’ names and address information
• Quotations from international couriers
• Creation of export invoices
• Quotations for tax and duty
• Eco-friendly packaging
• Colour printed congratulatory letters

Explain what the free initial design service includes and when any additional costs may apply.

Absolutely! Our design team can take inspiration from almost anything, including logos, sketches, photos and even physical objects.

The design team typically create 3 different design concepts for bespoke projects, although that can vary based on your requirements.

Subject to time and available budget, a pre-production sample can be provided; alternatively, we can create a 3D visual or a loan sample of similar finishes for approval.

Many different elements affect the price of a bespoke trophy, including:

• The complexity of the design
• The material, or materials you need
• How many you order
• The manufacturing techniques involved
• The level of personalisation required
• Packaging and delivery costs
• Any additional services, such as Promotional Media or presentation boxes

We always recommend that you provide budget expectations during the design process, so we can ensure we’re helping you get the best project for your budget.

EFX can build your trophy design around your budget, ensuring you get your ideal award for the best price.

Yes we can provide one-off trophies.

As design and manufacturing for our awards is done in-house, these are included when you get a quote from us.

Clients who hold regular events often order large numbers of trophies in one go, which can bring down the per-trophy cost.

EFX can produce and store these trophies for you, so that they are ready to be personalised and shipped for your future events.

Most of the time AI designs need a lot of work and refinement before they can actually be made. That’s because it’s generating something that looks lovely in an image – rather than something that needs to be created in reality.

But if you’ve created an AI design as a starting point, to give your designers an idea of what it is you’re looking for, then we can absolutely work with you to create a trophy that takes into account all your needs, from materials and sustainability, to branding and budget.

EFX have an extensive range of materials for our awards, including:

• Silver
• Gold
• Aluminium
• Acrylic
• Wood
• Crystal & Glass
• Resin
• Stone

Many of our materials are recycled or sustainably sourced, and we can also create awards using combinations of different materials.

All our designs are created by our dedicated in-house team, and the vast majority of our trophies are manufactured at our Ettington Park facility, just outside Stratford Upon Avon.

Complex and unusual designs are our speciality! When it comes to complex trophies and awards, we can help you create your vision in a way that delivers on your design, without leaving your award at risk of being easily broken, or breaking your budget.

Rest assured, nothing is produced until we get written approval from you, and we provide accurate proofs as part of the design process.

We manufacture at our works here in the UK, so we can offer short lead times and visibility at all stages of production. It also ensures we have complete control of quality and can provide the flexibility of service that you require.

Each production department, from machining, to polishing, electro-plating, engraving, printing, assembly to final QC and pack & despatch, is responsible for quality control at every stage of the process. The approved trophy designs are visible to all teams and this is the master we all adhere to.

Many of our clients need multiple trophy, award and medal designs for the same event. Our designers can create a range of different awards that all work with your branding, theme and style, ensuring the same high quality across each and every award.

We can provide a wide range of different personalisation options including engraving and digital printing.

Let us know the details you want to include on your award, and we’ll ensure your design has the perfect place for them.

Yes, each award can have unique personalisation.

Please supply your logo or artwork in Vector format (.pdf, .ai, .eps). When your artwork or logo is in a vectored format, it allows us to increase or decrease the size of your logo or artwork without compromising the integrity of the original image. The end result is a crisp, clear, and readable image and ensures we have complete flexibility when designing your award, and that the final product is of the best quality. Vector artwork is normally available from your design or marketing department.

Please supply your final winners text as a word document or in the body of your email, formatted as you would like it to appear on your award. You will receive a full set of proofs for sign off. We make sure nothing is engraved until we get written approval from you.

Visit our artwork guidelines page for more details.

Presentation boxes are not provided as standard, but we can design bespoke boxes for your awards.

We also have a range of off-the-shelf presentation boxes in standard sizes, colours and styles that may be suitable for your trophy.

There are various options for trophies if you want to reuse them. This includes perpetual awards, where names can be added over time, or the use of nameplates that can be replaced.

The entire order process, from your initial enquiry to your delivery date, is typically 3-6 weeks for bespoke awards.

We use a next day courier service as standard for all UK mainland deliveries but we also have additional delivery options, including multiple location delivery, rush deliveries and international courier delivery.

For tight deadlines we recommend letting us know as soon as possible, we can do rush orders and can give you options that mean you can get what you need in time for your event.

We deliver worldwide using our network of trusted couriers. International delivery options include 1-3 day delivery and 3-5 day delivery, ensuring you get your awards quickly, wherever in the world they’re being delivered.

We offer multi-location delivery, whether that’s to offices, venues or directly to your winners.

We can pack and ship awards to your winners direct, across the UK and around the world, including colour printed congratulatory letters.

For regular events, we can provide storage for trophies, until they’re ready to be personalised, packaged and shipped.

EFX have a wide range of sustainable award options. This includes recycled materials, including aluminium and acrylic, as well as sustainably sourced wood.

Sustainability is a high priority at EFX, not only do we have a partnership with Ecologi to offset our carbon consumption, we use solar power for our electricity, and have our own on-site waste water treatment plant, to reduce our environmental impact.

EFX are able to recycle some of our own trophies and awards, particularly acrylic or metal awards.

We can design a bespoke award or trophy that meets all your sustainability goals – right down to the packaging it’s delivered in.

We can provide and deliver awards for virtual events and events overseas. With a range of delivery options, we can ship awards directly to winners wherever they are in the world.

We have a wide range of options for promotional media, including images and video.

These can be great ways to show the care and craftsmanship that goes into the award making process, and can be used to promote your event online or in print.

We can provide you with a range of additional services to help promote your event, including video and photography packages of your award being made. 

These are ideal for social media, newsletters and websites, giving you extra content to promote and advertise your event.

From presentation evenings and awards nights, to sporting events and industry recognition, EFX can create bespoke trophies and awards for every occasion. 

We work with clients across all industries, including:

• Sport
• Media
• Technology
• Film & TV
• Advertising
• Automotive
• Finance
• Pharmaceutical
• Health & beauty
• Food & drink
• Marketing 
• Education
• Recruitment
• Business
• Construction & Engineering