I patronise general receiving award (8)
I believe the answer is:
customer
'i patronise' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'general receiving award' is the wordplay.
'general' becomes 'custer' (I've seen this before).
'receiving' is an insertion indicator.
'award' becomes 'OM' (order of merit).
'custer' placed around 'om' is 'CUSTOMER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for customer that I've seen before include "Shopper or client - always right" , "Selfridge said one is always right" , "Rail passenger, nowadays" , "Person buying" , "Person shopping" .)