A different view on this topic through the eyes of riders at the time.
The CTC Silver Plaques were awarded for "the greatest improvement in cycle design construction or equipment during the year" as it said on the plaque. Awards were made from 1925 to 1946 as it seems. There were
years in which no plaques were awarded.
I have had an exchange of e-mails with Alexander von Tutschek some time
ago in which he wrote that plaques were awarded in 1925 (FW Evans for the q/r dropout ends), 26 (Saxon for a cone locking device), 27 (Constrictor for their Conloy components), 29 (Resilion for the cantilever brakes), 31 (Perry for the hand applied hub brake), 33 (Dunlop for the Sprite tyre), my addition is 36 or 37 (Reynolds for 531
tubing, but I can´t lay my hands on a source at the moment), 39 (Sturmey-Archer for the AF four speed racing/clubman´s hub with the top three gears close together and a bottom of 25 per cent lower), and 46 (Chater Lea for the oil-sealed "tommy bar" pedal).
These plaques carried a lot of prestige at the time; for instance Sturmey-Archer printed a photo of their 1939 plaque in the ca. 1956 Master Catalogue. They used it to enhance the FW, whereas I think it was the AF that was really meant by the CTC.
Regards, Toni Theilmeier, Belm, Germany.