BMX crosses age against proficiency, then does it again for cruiser. That is how a local race with a couple of hundred riders awards more classes than a national round of almost anything else, and why the award budget is set by the class list rather than the entry list.
Most of the design work is making a long list look deliberate rather than improvised. Seven ideas for doing that.
1. The number plate, as the award itself
BMX already has its own trophy shape and it is bolted to the front of every bike on the gate. An award cut as a plate outline reads instantly to a rider who has spent a season looking at one.
It works at both ends of the programme: as the class award with the placing printed on it, and layered, as the champion piece.
2. One family across every age and proficiency class
Novice, intermediate and expert, crossed with age, crossed with wheel size. Forty classes is a normal Saturday. The only structure that survives it is one approved design with the class on a printed base plate.
The awards at the top of this page are a run of exactly that: one shape, produced as a batch, each destined for a different class.
It is worth being explicit about the economics, because they surprise people. A cut-and-printed award costs the same per unit at forty classes as at four. Complexity is free; only quantity is not.
3. Cruiser and 20-inch on the same design
Wheel size goes on the class plate, not into the design. Two designs makes one race day look like two overlapping events and doubles the artwork for no gain.
Riders who race both — and plenty do — end up with a matched pair rather than two unrelated trophies.
4. Awards built for the balance bike class
The youngest riders on the track get the award most likely to be dragged across a car park. Mass in the base, no thin points, no sharp corners, and a face that is printed rather than applied.
A balance bike award should get the same structural attention as an expert one. It is frequently the first trophy a child has ever been handed.
5. The main, not just the podium
Three motos then a main means a rider can have a good day without finishing on the podium of it. Some tracks award every rider who transfers to a main, which recognises the day rather than the last ninety seconds of it.
A small plate or a medallion is the right scale for that. A trophy for everyone who made a main is a different budget entirely.
6. Plate-holder awards for the season
A track champion or a state plate is a season-long result and it deserves an object at a different scale from a Saturday award. The layered version of the class design does this without introducing a second visual language.
Print the number large. It is the thing the rider will be carrying on the bike for the next twelve months.
7. The people who run the gate
Volunteers run BMX. Gate staff, moto sheets, registration, the person who calls forty classes without losing their place.
A handful of plaques on the same design as the race awards is the cheapest line in the order and the one that keeps a track staffed next season.
Putting it together for a race day
One design, plate-shaped, the class printed on the base, cruiser and 20-inch under the same family, something for the mains, layered pieces for the champions, and a set for the volunteers.
The class list is the order. Send it as it will appear and every plate gets proofed against it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does forty classes cost forty times a five-class order?
No. The design is approved once and the class list drives the plates, so the cost scales with quantity rather than with the number of classes. Complexity is the part that does not scale.
Are these safe for very young riders?
They are designed to be: mass in the base, no thin projections, no sharp corners on the face. A balance bike class award gets the same structural attention as an expert one.
Should cruiser classes have their own award design?
Usually not. Wheel size on the class plate under a shared design keeps the day reading as one event, and a rider who races both ends up with a matched pair.
Ready to design your BMX awards?
Send the class list in the wording it will appear in and we will proof every plate against it before anything is cut.
See BMX trophies
