Praise expert protecting company junior (8)
I believe the answer is:
accolade
'praise' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'expert protecting company junior' is the wordplay.
'expert' becomes 'ace' (ace can informally mean very good).
'protecting' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are held or protected).
'company' becomes 'co' (abbreviation).
'junior' becomes 'lad' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'co'+'lad'='colad'
'ace' enclosing 'colad' is 'ACCOLADE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for accolade that I've seen before include "Praise or approval, accompanies awarding of knighthood" , "Public praise or award" , "Special recognition of merit" , "Public approval" , "Acclaim; mark of honour" .)