Editing Trophy (section)

{{Short description|Reward for a specific achievement}}
{{About|competition awards}}
{{refimprove|date = August 2023}}
[[File:Benin, Championnats nationaux de scrabble 2019, trophées.jpg|thumb|275px|Several awards for a Scrabble tournament in Benin]]
A '''trophy''' is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for [[sports|sporting events]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Offerman |first=Theo |date=September 2002 |title=Hurting hurts more than helping helps |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0014-2921(01)00176-3 |journal=European Economic Review |volume=46 |issue=8 |pages=1423–1437 |doi=10.1016/s0014-2921(01)00176-3 |issn=0014-2921|url-access=subscription }}</ref> ranging from youth sports to professional level athletics. Additionally, trophies are presented for achievements in Academic, Arts and Entertainment, Business, Military, Professional awards, Community Service, Hunting, and Environmental accomplishments. In many contexts, especially in sports, [[Medal|medals]] (or, in North America, [[Ring (jewellery)|rings]]) are often given out either as the trophy or along with more traditional trophies.

Originally the word trophy, derived from the Greek ''[[tropaion]]'', referred to arms, standards, other property, or human captives and body parts (e.g., [[headhunting]]) captured in battle. These [[war trophy|war trophies]] commemorated the military victories of a state, army or individual combatant. In modern warfare trophy taking is discouraged,<ref>{{cite web|title=War Trophies|url=http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/wars/a/wartrophies.-tvA.htm|work=About.com US Military|publisher=[[About.com]]|access-date=24 May 2011|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222215957/http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/wars/a/wartrophies.-tvA.htm|archivedate=22 December 2010}}</ref> but this sense of the word is reflected in [[trophy hunting|hunting trophies]] and [[human trophy collecting]] by [[serial killer]]s.