The boy turned to me for reward (5)
I believe the answer is:
medal
'for reward' is the definition.
'the boy turned to me' is the wordplay.
'the boy' becomes 'lad' (informal term for boy).
'turned' says the letters should be written backwards.
'to' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'lad' reversed gives 'dal'.
'dal' after 'me' is 'MEDAL'.
(Other definitions for medal that I've seen before include "Piece of metal as award or in commemoration" , "Award for winning" , "Coin-like reward for merit" , "An award, in slang a gong" , "Prize disc for as for Olympic Games win" .)