DASH PLAQUES AND AWARDS

Dash Plaques

Dash plaques act a souvenir for the car owners. Many collect these and display these in their car (often on their dashboard) to show the various events they have attended. They are not awards, all who bring a car for display or judging should get one (or at least until you run out of an advertised quantity). I recommend that you advertise your event will give away 100 (or higher) dash plaques. A decent first year turnout is 30 cars but advertising 100 dash plaques shows you mean business about making this a good event and that you want a high turnout. Give the leftovers to your congregation members and volunteers. Dash plaques come in different sizes, shapes, styles, and colors. They are typically the size of business cards or slightly larger. Expect to pay between $1 - $2 for each. Styles vary. Most are rectangular in size (e.g. 2” x 3” or 3” x 4”) and can be multi-colored with graphics of your choice (I recommend you budget for the largest dash plaque you can afford with the nicest artwork you can arrange as another measure to thank those who brought a car to your event). Put the year of your event on it to distinguish it from subsequent years’ events. Dash plaques can be metal plates or the material used to make the thin refrigerator magnets (these are becoming more and more popular). Trophy and awards shops often make these so you might be able to get them made locally. There are also several on-line companies that will make them and ship them to you. Some companies will help you design the artwork for additional cost. Try to have the same artwork on your dash plaque as you have for your flyers, trophies/award (if you have them), and t-shirts (if you have them). I’m not a graphic artist but I designed simple artwork using classic car clipart I found on the Internet (Google for “classic car clipart”). Start planning for dash plaques early because it can take a while to design your artwork and find a suitable producer at a price and delivery time you are comfortable with. If your church has somebody good at graphic design, enlist their help for all your artwork needs (flyers, dash plaques, t-shirts, etc.)

Here are dash plaque websites with sample pictures to get you started:

http://www.meixnersmagnetstogo.com/dash_plaques.php (will mail you free samples)

http://www.tristatetrophies.com/dashplaques.html

http://www.magicworksawards.com/DashPlaques/dash.html

http://www.awardsservice.com/dashplaques.html

Awards

If you plan on presenting awards/trophies, you have many choices. You’ll need to determine your budget and number of categories and places you’ll have. You should expect to budget $8-$25 per award/trophy. In the Awards/Judging section, there is more detail on that subject. You should be able to go to a local trophy and award shop to get them made and see samples.

There are also several on-line sources. Below is a short list of the many on-line companies that have pictures of what they sell to give you ideas for design and cost:

http://www.magicworksawards.com/CARSHOW/CarShow.html

http://www.trophyoutlet.com/Carshows.htm

http://www.tristatetrophies.com/

http://www.johns-trophy.com/trophy_award.htm