From what I've seen there's not a whole lot we that we do to recognize the achievements of our members until the point when they're ready to become a squire and/or knight.
While some realms (And moreso, units) have systems in place to recognize the achievements of their members, I don't see much here locally, nor have I seen much on a national scale.
Looking at SCA and Amtgard, they both have systems to recognize members who contribute to the group. For instance, the SCA has a whole list of awards they give out including awards for Medieval Arts & Sciences (Garb etc), Combat Skills, Service, Teaching and many others. A list can be found here:
http://www.sca.org/awards/
I think Bel could be doing more to recognize the achievements of its members. I'm attempting to implement a recognition/award system within Thunder Guard and would like to hear the ideas that other realms/units have come up for this sort of thing.
So far, here's some ideas I'm tossing around:
AWARDS - Like in SCA, longtime contributing members could be recognized with an awards ceremony and certificate/title at local/regional events. This could appeal to any long-term member of our group who regularly makes a contribution to the game, including those who make garb, provide loaner gear, help with organizing/running events, marshaling and of course those who engage in combat.
COMBAT TRIALS - Any fighter in the group will have the option of trying to complete combat trials once every few practices. These will be 1v1 and small group battles designed to test the fighter's skill in a variety of scenarios. Combat trials will become increasingly difficult as the fighter increases in rank.
ELO RANKED COMBAT - Any two fighters may agree to a ranked fight, with the fight observed by a marshal. The outcome of the fight would affect the rating of each fighter, based upon an ELO ranking system. The ratings would be shown on the realm website. This is meant to appeal to competitive 1v1 fighters.