The Pop-Tarts Bowl has unveiled a trophy like no other.
Why?
IT’S A WORKING TOASTER.
But as different sponsors such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Capital One and AT&T dominate the bowl game landscape, does Pop-Tarts boast the best trophy?
Here are cllct’s top 10 bowl-game trophies.
10. LA Bowl, Hosted by Gronk
In typical Gronk fashion ... this isn’t straightforward.
It’s not a trophy at all. Instead the winner will receive a belt, like a boxing or wrestling belt.
It’s not anything spectacular — but it’s unique and memorable.
9. Las Vegas Bowl
This bedazzled, embellished white football rests on three curved gold columns and is designed in the style of Liberace.
It’s ostentatious. Just the way a Las Vegas Bowl trophy should be.
8. Hawai’i Bowl
It’s a football designed to look like a pineapple.
It’s pretty self-explanatory and does exactly what it’s supposed to do: represent the site and game associated with it.
(Honorable mention to the Bahamas Bowl, which has a trophy featuring palm trees and a great color scheme. The tropical vibes just seemed a bit too similar.)
7. Birmingham Bowl
This trophy might be the most recognizable, mostly because it does not even come close to looking like any other trophy.
It’s a replica of the statue of Vulcan — the Roman god of fire and metalworking — which sits in Birmingham, Alabama, as a symbol of the city’s roots in the steel and iron industries. The statue is the largest cast-iron statue in the world.
Of note, and one that makes lots of people laugh every year, the statue does not have any back to its bottoms and neither does this trophy.
6. StaffDNA Cure Bowl
This bowl game raises money for a tremendous cause in working to find a cure for breast cancer.
And its trophy is a football in the shape of a breast cancer awareness ribbon. Bravo to the team who came up with this concept.
5. Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl
It’s always great when bowl games play into the culture of the site. And I’m not sure that any do that better than the Gasparilla Bowl.
Gasparilla is a pirate festival, which has taken place in Tampa, Florida, every year since 1904.
And the bowl game plays into it perfectly with a treasure chest trophy.
No walking the plank for these organizers.
4. Isleta New Mexico Bowl
This Native American clay pot was handcrafted by artists Marcellus and Elizabeth Media from the Zia Pueblo.
Each trophy is, of course, game specific and features images of players on each team as well as deer, mountain lions, buffaloes and eagles.
Plus, there is an illustration of the Zia sun symbol.
This trophy is totally true to New Mexico.
3. AutoZone Liberty Bowl
The Liberty Bowl trophy is designed to be a replica of the Liberty Bell located at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
For the history buffs out there, the Liberty Bell was rung following the signing of The Declaration of Independence.
And this trophy is an exact one-quarter replica of the Liberty Bell.
(Honorable mention to the Independence Bowl, which has a bald eagle on its trophy. It’s very cool, but there can’t be two trophies from the founding of America on our list.)
2. VRBO Fiesta Bowl
If it wasn’t for the fact you can quite literally toast a bagel in the next trophy, this would be the clear No. 1.
This trophy is a work of art.
There are 2,187 pavé-set diamonds. But previous gems aren’t what make the trophy so special. All of these bowl games and their sponsors have plenty of money.
It’s the intricacies of the sculpture that are so fascinating. It’s the eight football players etched into the trophy and the color schemes.
And the fact there is an LED display on the trophy designed by Ken Wilson, who helped bring lightsabers to the big screen in “Star Wars.”
1. Pop-Tart Bowl
Was there really any other choice?
IT’S A WORKING TOASTER.
Combining creativity from Pop-Tart and innovation from General Electric, you get the best trophy in all the Bowl land.
Matt Liberman is a reporter and editor for cllct.