Top bird holding a presentation (8)
I believe the answer is:
bestowal
'presentation' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'top bird holding a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'top' could be 'best' (similar in meaning) and 'best' is found within the answer.
'a' is present in the answer.
'bird' could be 'owl' (owl is a kind of bird) and 'owl' is found within the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bestowal that I've seen before include "Act of conferring (eg, grant on someone)" , "presentation" , "award" , "Act of giving" , "Conferment (of an honour)" .)