International award cheers popular officer (7)
I believe the answer is:
captain
'officer' is the definition.
(I know that captain is a type of junior officer)
'international award cheers popular' is the wordplay.
'international award' becomes 'cap' (eg international footballers earn caps).
'cheers' becomes 'ta' (both can mean thank you).
'popular' becomes 'in' ('in' can mean trendy).
'cap'+'ta'+'in'='CAPTAIN'
(Other definitions for captain that I've seen before include "Ship's commander" , "Naval commander" , "eg Hornblower" , "Lead (a team)" , "eg Hook, Cook" .)