If you want to gift your recipients with something that is both meaningful AND beautiful you definitely should consider going the custom design route with your awards. Custom designs can embody the spirit of your organization as well as the recipient in a way that a mass-produced award simply cannot. Instead of settling for “good enough,” why not get the perfect award for your next event?

Former CEO of IKEA, Anders Dahlvig, has argued that recognition is the greatest motivator of all. In his book, “The IKEA Edge” Dahlvig says that “I would even go so far as to say that recognition is the most important driver of mankind…” There are plenty of people who go about their day-to-day jobs and don’t expect to receive any kind of special recognition for showing up and punching the clock every day. 

Designing a custom award for your next event is a great way to support your unique brand image and corporate positioning. Unlike pre-fabricated awards, a custom award design has a look and feel that is 100% unique to your brand and recipients. 

Trophies aren’t the only award option out there! In addition to plaques, crystal awards, sculpture awards, and fabricated awards there are also medallions. Custom medallions are one of the more affordable custom award options in terms of per-unit price, which is great if you are trying to stick to a budget. 

Employee recognition has been tied to retention—happy employees work harder, are more satisfied with their jobs, and are willing to invest more in their career and your company and much, much more! An employee recognition program is a great way to foster company-wide positivity, engagement, and camaraderie. 

A perpetual award is a single award that an organization, like the World Series of Poker’s David “Chip” Reese Trophy, would present to a new recipient year after year. Typically, the name of each year’s recipient is added to the base of the perpetual award via a plaque or engraving.

Receiving an achievement award because of their skills, or as a way to celebrate a unique accomplishment, can bring a lot of excitement and joy into your employees’ lives. An achievement award serves as a long-lasting memento, reminding your employees that you honor and respect their individual achievements and accomplishments. At the end of the day we all want to feel appreciated and valued by our employers and a corporate award is one way of letting your team know you respect and value their hard work.

Designing a custom award for your organization’s event is not nearly as straightforward as you may think. There are a lot of elements that have to be taken into account including time frame, type of material to be used, making sure the award fits with your organization’s image, and more. And one of the first things to take into consideration is the shape and style of your award—do you want something more artistic or are you looking for a literal design?

If you are looking for new and exciting corporate awards that are absolutely perfect for your next recognition event then your search should start and end with custom sculpture awards. Custom sculpture awards are not like those common (and boring) basic trophies and plaques that end up in an employee’s drawer or gathering dust in the closet. 

If your organization needs a custom designed award and you’re working on a tight deadline or have to make do with a small budget then a custom crystal award might be the best option for your award choice. 

Awards are a great way to leave a lasting impression on recipients, reinforcing the actions that resulted in the award, and sending a positive, reinforcing message to others. However, the quality and nature of the award can have a big impact on its effectiveness. This point was recently hammered home by some on-air dialogue regarding an award we produced for Groominglounge.com's "King of All Follicles Award," which was presented to Howard Stern.

Pewter, along with bronze, are the primary metals used to create our sculpture awards. Both are metal alloys: bronze being primarily copper alloyed with a small amount of tin, and pewter being primarily tin alloyed with a small amount of copper. Pewter used been used extensively for many millennia, stretching back to the Bronze Age in the Near East. Pewter was a common material used by the Egyptians, Romans, and Europeans throughout the Middle Ages. The primary use of pewter used to be for tableware; however this has now shifted to jewelry, collectibles, and, of course, recognition awards!

When you set out to make a custom award it’s important to remember that “custom” means you can have whatever you want for your organization. Your award shouldn’t look or feel like anything else that has been done before; it should celebrate your organization, the recipients, and the spirit of the award. 

If you are looking to create a custom award for your organization or event the first thing you have to ask yourself is how custom do you really want your award to be? “Customizing” your award could mean adding a few unique elements to an existing design, or it could mean designing an entirely new award from the ground up.

People like to know that they are working for a company that appreciates them and their work. No one likes being just another cog in the machine, and even small gestures like notes of appreciation, or a “great job on that project!” comment in the hallway as they walk by, can have a big impact on your employees. You don’t have to pull out all the bells and whistles every time you want to celebrate your employees, but here are 6 ways you can recognize their contributions to your company.