Distinguished women collecting silver they're awarded (7)
I believe the answer is:
damages
'they're awarded' is the definition.
(damages might be awarded in a court case)
'distinguished women collecting silver' is the wordplay.
'distinguished women' becomes 'dames' (women with the title of dame).
'collecting' is an insertion indicator.
'silver' becomes 'Ag' (Ag is the chemical symbol for silver).
'dames' placed around 'ag' is 'DAMAGES'.
(Other definitions for damages that I've seen before include "Money awarded as compensation" , "Harms" , "Moneys paid as compensation for an injury" , "weakens" , "Hurts" .)