Participation trophy is for the player who participates, not win the game, contest, quiz/trivia, or test. Giving participation trophy is not an ancient practice so far we look back in trophy or award history. Therefore, the modern age is experiencing a heavy debate on the continuation of giving participant trophies.

participation trophies for kids

Some are obviously against it for reasons while some are completely favouring it. Today, I am going to place some solid arguments that favour giving various trophies in schools such as sports trophies, dance trophies, game trophies, and various contests.

1. Participation Trophies Encourage Learning

We know the psychology of winner and loser. When someone wins, she assumes that she is perfect and committed no mistake at all. It means winners have to learn nothing in a sense.

When someone loses, she either gets inspirations to learn something and be competitive or lost interests in the game/competition at all and escapes the next participation too.

In most of the cases, the latter psych proves true, and losers lost interest forever. Fortunately, participation trophies motivate losers to learn something from mistakes committed and encourage them to do hard work to overcome those so they can win the trophies of winners, not mere participants awards.

Therefore, participation awards are always inferior in quality, look and price than the awards for top winners, be it one, three, or more.

2. Participation Awards Teaches How to Take Losses with Honour or Humility

If we apply a straight logic to winners-only trophies, it gives a sense of humiliation to the losers and triggers revenging thoughts to be assertive enough to win next time.

On the other hand, participation trophies teach that one has to take losses with honour because they get participation trophies and show that they come out and at least participate in contents no matter they lost, but they can win next time by paying more attention, efforts, and time.

In fact, kids who receive participation awards have enough sense of losers, but trophies like ribbon, plaques, and similar low-cost awards dilute the sense of humiliation at some extent, but the same the time they cannot take pride like top winners who win actual trophies.

3. Participation Trophies Give Message that Competition is Not Bad

Little kids or teenagers have grasped the sense of comparative degree like ‘better or good’ indicator words, but yet not superlative. Therefore, when you give trophies to only winners kids who are a few in number, the rests of participant kids receive a negative message, and it is the competition is bad, and they are not capable of winning it.

If you give those kids participation trophies, they might perceive that competition is not bad and they can win at sometimes in the future. It encourages them to make a bit more efforts to win next time.

4. Participation Trophies Encourage Hard Work

We generally believe that the sense of lost something only to encourages humans to do hard work to regain it, but it is not always true. The sense of getting inferior can trigger a positive inspiration to the losers and encourage them to achieve the same gracefully, not with humiliation.

Therefore, participation trophies, awards, and plaques are hilarious ways to inspire one-time losers to do hard work without any feeling of harassment.

5. Participation Trophies Encourage Edge Losers

We know some losers are missing pure winner trophies just for a few ranks or marks/points and give them the realisation that life just isn’t fair and that is okay. Participant trophies act as consolation prizes for those losers stand at the edge of winning. They get inspirations to restore their stamina, energy, and courage to participate next time with more resources than before.

6. Children Never Want to Be Different

Children always love to be fit in and get acceptance of peers to stay as a mere team member of a group or more. Unfortunately, standalone winner trophy infuses a sense of superiority and single out them for their talent.

Participant trophies given to the entire group of participant children keep their levels and save the winner kid/s from isolation. The winner has do not commit extra efforts to show equality. Instead, participant awards encourage losers to go extra mile next time and seat with winners.

7. Participant Trophies Solve Issues of Building a Big Team

When we award winners only who are a few (1-3), so losers are losing appetite even to participate next time. It creates a big problem to build a team with enough candidates/participants to play a game or run a contest.

By giving participant awards, we eliminate these possibilities and can quickly build a sizable team. Participant trophies also infuse team spirits and increase chances of more participation in upcoming sessions or seasons.

Conclusion:

After exploring the possible reasons for that, we can say participation trophies are actually good for kids or children of certain age and immaturity. In fact, during childhood, we used to teach children the skills needed for life.

If you exert mental pressure through winner-only awards, you may reach on a verse to lose the talent. Therefore, participant trophies come with the positive sense to foster the talent further and help you in your goals.

In due course, I would like to encourage you to visit the brick stores of Olympia, a leading trophy maker business in Australia for decades. The online storefront is also unbeatable place and worth to visit for you all trophies and awards related requirements.

Therefore, participation awards are always inferior in quality, look and price than the awards for top winners, be it one, three, or more.