There isn’t a need for an introduction for this countdown. I look at some of the best-looking trophies.
The obvious contenders belong to the events of the Triple Crown. The prestige of these events or the champion might influence how we view these trophies, but they are exquisite. For me, The Paul Hunter Trophy (Masters) is more exquisite than the World Championship and the UK Championship trophies. No doubt that the World Championship trophy has the greatest history – that trophy “was first bought by the great Joe Davis in 1926 for just £19!”
So to make this countdown less predictable, the Triple Crown events are excluded. It’s about time that we give the other trophies some love! It is tricky to find some history into each trophy other than the Triple Crown awards. The main reason being that there are so many new events recently. The Coral / Cazoo events and the Home Nations Series were only reintroduced within the last five years, for example.
But there are a number of fan favourites. There is the International Championship, which looks like a pillar from an Inca temple; the Champion of Champions trophy, which looks like the grandest bowl ever; and finally the Benson & Hedges Masters Trophy, which is probably the largest trophy in snooker history probably.
For more information on the trophies and some of their history, please click on WPBSA’s Trophies page.
5. German Masters
It was only renamed in honour of the late promoter and manager Brandon Parker this year. The German Masters had a number of different trophies since it was reinstated in 2011. From then till 2014, it looked like two shards of glass with a red ball in the middle. In 2015, it had a more impressive trophy, which was more circular and had a cue ball and a snooker cue struck through the middle. In 2016, Martin Gould became the first recipient of the bowl that is still the trophy for the German Masters today. Below is Anthony Hamilton holding it aloft in 2017.
4. World Seniors Championships
I like this one because it looks like a claret jug. Its only prestige is the fact that Jimmy White has won this World title, not once but twice. In fact, he is the only winner of that trophy. The past winners such as Mark Williams, Peter Lines and Aaron Canavan held differently-shaped trophies, so there is little history in that particular trinket. But it is gold and it is quite pretty to look at.
3. Welsh Open
Unfortunately, we haven’t seen this rocky trophy for a good few years. Since the introduction of the Home Nations Series, the Ray Reardon Trophy is in a form of a crystal block. It looks quite nice, but since it is identical to the other three Home Nations events, the spectacle slightly wears off and ends up looking quite ordinary as a result. From 2004-2016, the Welsh Open housed this beauty below. At least that trophy gave the Welsh Open its own identity!
2. World Grand Prix
The World Grand Prix was a completely new addition to the snooker circuit, making its debut in 2015. It was originally a non-ranking event, got promoted to a fully-fledged ranker a year later and has been that way ever since. As you might have guessed, I do like trophies that look like claret jugs and this one looks incredibly impressive. The trophy has been exactly the same since the World Grand Prix was born and has been held by the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy, Barry Hawkins and current holder Judd Trump.
1. China Open
The China Open trophy was a large gold plate. This particular trophy replaced the gold plate in 2018, with Mark Selby being the first recipient, beating Barry Hawkins 11-3. It looks like a gorgeous Ming vase somehow. A lot of the trophies have barely any colour at all and made out of crystal.
