English 
Deutsch Fahnen Kössinger, November 2018
Tributes in your club
The sense of honoring in a club is, first and foremost, to say thank you and acknowledge and appreciate the commitment of the person who is being revered. Distinctions are an important means to ideologically honor the achievements of honorary officials and members, but also the sponsors or patrons, no matter what kind of awards are granted.
Each club has given itself a statute, in which, in the normal case, the conditions for honorings are fixed.
Occasions
In sports, medals and certificates are awarded for outstanding achievements to the first place finishers, also in price shootings among the marksmen or soldiers, and immediately after each competition at that. Wherever comparative competitions take place, the honors are usually executed immediately thereafter.
Outside of competitive communities, the cronological sequences are organized differently. Many associations hold their annual general meeting once a year and, depending on the rules in their statutes, check who can look back on a jubilee anniversary and is going to receive a pin, certificate or gift. Highly deserving members or longtime chairmen are appointed honorary champion, honorary conductor or honorary chairman. Such awards are usually of a purely non-material nature and require no additional allotment. Of course, certificates and badges of honor or a custom-made gift are appropriate. But one should make sure that very special events are not used inflationarily, i.e. one should not appoint an honorary chairman every year or donate a badge to each and every member.
In general, minimal 5-year intervals are common, but most commonly, there are needles for 10, 25, 30, 40, 50, etc. years.
The right ambience
Communities celebrate their honors in an official setting, such as the Town Hall or a multi-purpose hall. Invited guests are those who have worked with those to be honored, but also politicians from the city council and business representatives.
Many cities hold sports distributionary events once a year or an evening for volunteer workers, during which distinguished persons are able to exchange ideas with each other and with political representatives and can also utter their concerns.
Associations without their own clubhouse have to switch to guesthouse halls which can provide an appropriate ambience with suitable decoration. Whether public or in-house - the ambience should in any case live up to the honored persons. Table decoration with paper flags, bunting and garlands on the walls and ceilings, roomstands with flags and noble velvet cases for the award of medals and orders make the event a memorable one. Such honorings usually take place once a year, either at the annual general meeting, the Christmas party or during a round anniversary. Orchestras also like to carry out distinctions at an annual concert. However, care should be taken to ensure that the program is not dragged out by too many speeches and the focus remains on the actual musical event.
The honorable person
By law, every private individual, institution, company, and association is allowed to make a tribute. There are no rules here. However, state institutions and most of the hierarchically organized associations have recommendations that go as far as strict rules for the honoring. Here, the periodical intervals, the conditions, as well as the nature of the honors, are strictly determined. This is because the awards should be comparable with each other, for example, the shooting badge or the military medal are always being awarded for the same achievements.
Tips and presents for honorary events
No matter which person is to be honored - the club or company that executes the award must think about what the appropriate gift looks like and in which ambience and to what extent the distribution should be made.
Possible honorable gifts
Documents
Special achievements should also receive a proper appreciation. In recognition of the merits of long-time employees or members of the association, the presentation of a certificate or a diploma of honor is a nice gesture. With the name and the jubilee of the honored person, the award remains in the memory for a long time, especially if the certificate is handed over in a real wooden frame.
Figurines, plates, individual pictures
You are pleased for the longest time about a gift that you like to set up or use gladly. It should have some relation to the honoree, either by a clear reference to the club or company for which he or she works, or by a personalized line of text. On firefighters and riflemen figurines, this may be some base inscription. Jars and plates are printed with name and date. Embroidered pictures are already provided with a very personal text and logo anyway.
Badges and medals
For each club, there are standard decorations, e.g. crosses of honor with a ribbon drape for soldiers and firefighters. Since the decoration with medals come from the military area, warriors and soldiers are particularly many different pins available. The lending of medals is also common in sports. Here it is physical excellence, which are rewarded with the hanging of gold, silver and bronze badge. These medals can either be provided with an icon of the respective sport or individually or with the name of the organizing club or association.
Neckties
A woven, printed or embroidered necktie with your club emblem or a standard fire department, soldier comradeship, archery or music club motive can also serve as a lasting keepsake and as a present for a jubilee or honorary tribute. In order to be able to present the tie appropriately, a noble gift box with a transparent plastic lid is a good way to do it.
Tips
- Do not overwhelm individual members with multiple honoring pins. These can also be distributed over the year. So you can thank people for their commitment several times a year and keep the active members in a good mood.
- Be careful not to forget anyone - not even the chairman or woman, who may be responsible for the honors and, of course, does not necessarily want to distinguish themselves.
- Help the press representatives with a prepared list of names. During the event, there is usually no time to worry about the journalists. This avoids annoying mistakes that you notice in hindsight only.
- In any case, ask the honorees if they agree to a publication of their name and photos. The new privacy policy sets narrow limits for the personal rights of individuals.