1. The award stack: three layers
Every car show's award list, from a 40-car church lot to a 400-car fairground, is built from the same three layers:
- Best of Show. One award. The headline. It goes to the car that makes people stop mid-sentence, and it's the photo that ends up in the paper and on next year's flyer. Resist the urge to split it into Best of Show Car / Truck / Bike unless your show is big enough that each is a real contest.
- Class winners. One per class. This is the backbone of the award list — it's how a '52 pickup and a 2020 Hellcat can both go home with hardware without ever competing against each other. Your class structure decides this layer for you, so set it first; our guide to car show classes has a ready-to-use list.
- Specialty awards. The personality layer. These are the awards nobody can build a car for — Longest Distance, Kids' Choice, Hard Luck — and they're where your show stops feeling like every other show. Three to six is plenty.
How many total? Divide expected cars by eight. A 100-car show supports about 12–15 awards: Best of Show, 8–10 class winners, and a handful of specialties. Hand out 30 trophies at a 90-car show and winning stops meaning anything; hand out 6 and entrants in stacked classes feel they never had a shot. Cars ÷ 8 keeps a trophy rare enough to brag about.
2. Specialty award ideas (the big list)
Specialty awards cost you one trophy each and create the stories people retell. Here's the working list, what each one recognizes, and how it gets decided:
| Award | What it recognizes | How it's picked |
|---|---|---|
| Longest Distance Traveled | The entrant who drove (or hauled) the farthest to be there | From registration — ask for city/ZIP on the entry form |
| Hardship Award | The most adversity overcome to get the car to the show — fire rebuilds, decade-long projects, barn finds back from the dead | Organizer or panel pick, based on the entrant's story (EntryLane has this one built in) |
| Club Participation | The club that brought the most cars | Count entries by club affiliation at registration |
| Kids' Choice | The car the kids on the lot love most | Kids vote — hand them ballots at the gate; families love it |
| People's Choice | The crowd favorite, entrants and spectators alike | Open vote — everyone gets a ballot |
| Mayor's / Sponsor's Choice | One named pick per VIP or major sponsor | They walk the lot and choose — sponsors renew when their name is on a trophy |
| Best Interior | The cleanest, most striking cabin on the lot | Judged — one judge with a flashlight can cover it |
| Best Engine Bay | Detail work under the hood | Judged — hoods up during judging hours |
| Best Paint | Finish quality: depth, straightness, color | Judged — pick a judge who's sprayed a car |
| Best Patina / Rat Rod | Honest wear and outlaw builds the concours crowd ignores | Judged or organizer pick |
| Diamond in the Rough / Under Construction | The unfinished project with the most promise — primer welcome | Organizer or panel pick |
| Hard Luck | Broke down on the way in and still made the show | Organizer pick — usually obvious by 9 AM |
You don't need all twelve. Pick the ones that fit your crowd: a family show wants Kids' Choice and Hard Luck; a club-heavy show wants Club Participation and Longest Distance; a builder-heavy show wants Best Engine Bay and Diamond in the Rough.
3. Who picks what
Every award on your list is decided one of three ways, and you should know which is which before the show:
- Judged. Best of Show, class winners, and the craft awards (Interior, Engine Bay, Paint) — decided by your judges or voting format. The judging and scoring guide covers panels, rubrics, and participant voting.
- Voted. People's Choice and Kids' Choice — decided by ballots. They run on the same voting window as the rest of your show, with a hard published cutoff.
- Organizer / sponsor picks. Hardship, Hard Luck, Diamond in the Rough, Sponsor's Choice — decided by a person, on the record. These are the easiest to run and the ones entrants remember longest, because they reward stories, not budgets.
Say it out loud
Announce how each award is decided before voting opens — on the flyer, at the gate, on the PA. "People's Choice is everyone's ballot, Best Paint is judged, Sponsor's Choice is Miller's Auto Body's pick." Mystery breeds grumbling, and the guy who lost Best Paint by a coin flip he didn't know existed will tell ten people. Transparency costs you one announcement.
4. Trophies, plaques, and cheaper alternatives
Order three to four weeks out — engraving shops back up in show season, and rush fees erase whatever you saved shopping around. Rough cost bands:
| Option | Per-award cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Stock column trophies | $10–$25 | Class winners at small shows |
| Engraved plaques | $20–$40 | Class winners that look good on a garage wall |
| Custom metal / piston-style trophies | $50–$150+ | Best of Show and marquee specialties |
| Gift certificates from sponsor shops | $0 to you | Specialty awards — sponsors donate them happily |
Two tricks that pay for themselves. First, put the sponsor's logo on the trophy for any award they fund or pick — it's the cheapest sponsorship deliverable you'll ever offer, and it shows up in every winner photo for years. Second, pair small trophies with donated prizes: a $25 plaque plus a $50 detail-shop gift certificate feels like a $100 award and costs you $25. Local shops would rather donate a certificate that brings a customer in than write a check.
5. The ceremony
The ceremony is the last thing everyone experiences at your show, and the rules are simple:
- Start on time and keep it under 30 minutes. The published time on your run sheet is a promise. Entrants forgive a long food line; they don't forgive a 2 PM ceremony that starts at 3:15.
- Call winners by car, not just name. "Best Paint — the green '67 Fastback, Dave Reyes" turns heads toward the car. A name alone means nothing to 300 spectators; the car is why they came.
- Order matters. Specialties first, class winners second, Best of Show dead last. The headline keeps the crowd in their chairs.
- Photograph every winner with their car and their trophy. Those photos are your results post, your sponsor report, and next year's promotion.
- Post results within 24 hours. Winners share results pages with everyone they know — that's free reach you can't buy.
6. Frequently asked questions
How many awards should a 100-car show give?
Around 12–15: one Best of Show, one winner for each of 8–10 classes, and three or four specialty awards. Cars ÷ 8 is the sanity check — it keeps trophies rare enough to mean something without leaving full classes empty-handed.
What is a hardship award?
It recognizes the entrant who overcame the most to get their car to the show — the rebuild after the fire, the ten-year project that finally fired, the barn find towed back from the dead. It's an organizer or panel pick based on the story behind the car, and it's reliably the most emotional moment of the ceremony.
Should sponsors pick an award?
Yes. Give each major sponsor one named Sponsor's Choice with their logo on the trophy. It costs you one award, they get their name read on the PA and printed in every winner photo, and sponsors with a trophy in the photos renew at a noticeably higher rate than sponsors with a banner on the fence.