I know I am going to catch some flak for this comment, but if you want the nice awards go to the bigger open tournaments. Work harder to place at them, and don't attend novice. Novice tournaments are set up to be a teaching tournament not a big award and production tournament. Back in the day there was no such thing as Novice or even B brackets. If you wanted an award, usually a small medal (until state) you worked harder to improve to get it. If yiu didn't get a medal at the tournament yes you were heart broken, but you went back to the room and worked harder so it didn't happen again.

This is just my opinion.

Lance Geyer