In the beginning there was the Twin’s Trophy. This was awarded to the modeller who won the Twin's theme award at CapCon, a regional competition held every two years in Ottawa. Gary Barling, the Liaison Member to IPMS Farnborough, sponsored the trophy. (Further, since Gary is a full member of IPMS Farnborough, he is their Liaison member to IPMS Ottawa!).

The motivation for the Twin’s Trophy was to commemorate and enhance the twinning of IPMS Ottawa and IPMS Farnborough. For each CAPCON, a specific theme was designated for the trophy, with the key stipulation being that the theme had to reflect a campaign, operation, battle, or other action that involved at least elements of both British and Canadian forces. (For example, for CAPCON 2007, the chosen theme was “The Battle of Britain.” This theme was chosen in part because the competition was held on September 15th, which is “Battle of Britain” Day.)

Original Twin's Trophy		2017 Commowealth Award

After the twinning was extended to include ACTSMS Canberra, the Twin's Trophy became the Commonwealth Award. For every CAPCON, the three clubs through their respective liaison members collaborate to determine the best theme that includes Canadian, British, and Australian forces. Sometimes it is a challenge to come up with a properly inclusive theme and not have any repeats!