Invictus Spirit Awards

At the top of the award sits a ring, designed to stand in for the iris of an eye. The form represents focus, identity and inner strength, and carries genuine structural significance.

A ring has no corners and therefore no weak points, so under pressure it acts as a continuous arch, spreading force evenly around its edge. This spreading of load, references the fact that recovery requires a team to support and facilitate, and that the veterans themselves have to dig deep to reinvent themselves after trauma.

Behind the iris ring, the back plate rises to a point, reading at once as a direction marker and a mountain, a reference to the climb every competitor makes in recovering through sport. The arrow shape draws the eye upward through the piece towards the summit where the Invictus motto “I AM” is proudly emblazoned. Invictus means unconquered in Latin, symbolising unyielding resilience, inner strength, and defiance against adversity, as popularized by William Ernest Henley's poem. The bottom front face is etched with contour lines, suggesting rough terrain: a reminder that recovery rarely runs smooth, and that to reach your goal you may have to cross many valleys. The base of the award repeats the ring form, but smaller. I saw the ring as an analogy for the starting point of the journey, the point from which every competitor's climb begins, echoed in miniature beneath the summit they are working towards.