The Oscars were Sunday night, and we all recognize that gold statuette as a sign of prestige and achievement in the entertainment industry. In honor of the Oscars, I thought it would be fun to share little-known facts about that famous golden guy and other popular award trophies.

Oscar Statuette. The coveted statue depicts a knight holding a crusader’s sword standing on a reel of film. It’s made of Britannia metal with 24-karat-gold plating, stands 13½ inches tall, and weighs 8½ pounds. That’s heavier than most of my hand weights!


Even though it's one of the most recognizable trophies in the world, you probably didn't know Oscar is holding a sword.

Heisman Memorial Trophy Award. More informally referred to as “the Heisman,” this trophy annually honors an outstanding player in college football. The trophy, made out of cast bronze, is modeled after Ed Smith, a player on the 1934 New York University football team. It stands 13.5 inches tall and can knock out Oscar with its 25 pounds.

 
Where would you display this 25 pound award?

Grammy Awards. The Grammy awards honor excellence in music recording and was celebrated earlier this month, too. The award was originally called the Gramophone Award in honor of Thomas Edison’s invention. The trophy features a gilded gramophone that is gold-plated. Each year, "stunt” trophies are used during the award ceremony so the winners are not revealed prematurely. Winners later receive their engraved trophy.

 
After winning six Grammys, Adele had to lug around 25.5 pounds of gramophones (they weigh 4.25 pounds each)!

Stanley Cup. As a Michigander the Stanley Cup is easily recognizable, especially in the hands of our Detroit Red Wings! This sports trophy has several unique features, like the fact that the names of all the winning players, coaches, management, and staff are engraved on it. There is only one Stanley Cup, and the winning team only gets to host it until a new champion is crowned. The bowl of the cup is made of silver and nickel alloy. It stands 35.25 inches tall and is our heavy weight champ at 34.5 pounds.

These awards immediately came to mind when I thought of famous trophies and symbols of achievement. What about you? What are your favorite famous and recognizable trophies and awards?

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

In this month’s Recognition TV webisode, we talked about Service Anniversaries. This is the one recognition program that you can find at all organizations! Recognizing years of service can affect employee morale, retention, and motivation, so make it count! Here are five tips you can follow in your organization that employees will fondly remember for years.

Watch the Recognition TV websiode here:

1. Recognize on the actual day of the anniversary.
Some anniversary programs have years of service gifts sent directly to the employees’ home, or they may choose the gift on their anniversary and receive it on a later date. Even if your anniversary program requires you to do nothing to deliver the gift, make it a priority to deliver your personal congratulations on the day of your employee’s anniversary. Acknowledge the employee’s anniversary with a tangible gift – even if the company has already taken care of it. It doesn’t have to be expensive, like a greeting card with your personal note, a certificate, or even a high five. If it’s given sincerely, the recipient will love it.

2. Make it personal to your company and the recipient.
Your culture should be reflected in the way you celebrate service anniversaries. At Baudville, our first year anniversary gift is a fleece jacket with our logo embroidered on the pocket. These are a favorite among employees and have become a signature piece throughout the company. We love our fleeces because it serves as a symbol of our achievement. Plus, we get to choose the color of the jacket and embroidery, so it’s always just the way we like it! This gift is a great fit for our culture because employees get to express their personal creativity, and it’s fun and practical.

3. Do something every year.
The biggest mistake companies make today is holding off on recognizing anniversaries until employees have their five year anniversary. How many people leave your company before they even get close to five years of service!? If your organization values dedication and tenure (most do!), start recognizing it right away. It doesn’t have to cost a lot! With the cost of turnover – and the fight for talent – you can’t afford not to recognize those early years of service.

• For $10, you can take the employee out to lunch for some valuable one-on-one time.
• For $5, you can purchase an anniversary lapel pin for every member of your team with their specific years of service.
• For $2, present an award certificate on the complete certificate with paper, folder, seal, and ribbon. It will make a grand impression for a small dent in your wallet! 

4. Make it a group mission.
Managers are an important part of service award recognition, but they shouldn’t fly solo when celebrating years of service. Make it a group event! When you recognize a behavior, like years of service, publically, it sends a message to your entire team. This is powerful communication about what your organization values and what an outstanding employee or contribution looks like. Don’t underestimate the power of public recognition! A well planned and executed award ceremony can provide long lasting motivation.

5. Don’t underestimate the power of free.
There’s a lot you can do to honor a service anniversary that doesn’t have to cost you anything! When your teammates have an anniversary, shout it from the rooftop! Make a big deal about it if you want employees to take their time at your organization seriously. This is also a great way to publically recognize individuals who don’t like to be the center of attention. By using these different media, you can be sure to express your appreciation without making them uncomfortable.

• Once a month, list all service anniversaries on your blog.
• Post a congratulations status update on Facebook on your company page.
• Send a tweet on Twitter.
• Send an ePraise card using the free system on Baudville.com. We have cards created especially for service anniversaries. All you have to do it add a short personal note and click send.
• Add a special column to your company newsletter that only lists anniversaries.
• Talk to your IT department about an anniversary spotlight on the intranet.

How does your organization celebrate service anniversaries?

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

The holidays are here! It seems like all the major retail areas are already bustling with holiday shoppers looking for the best gifts for everyone on their list. Have you thought about appreciation for your team yet?

The holidays and end of the year are an important time to reflect upon the contributions, accomplishments, and successes of your team. At Baudville, we celebrate with our Year End Party which includes awards, employee gifts, and lots of fun! Our employees always look forward to our event, so I’ve put together three areas of tips and ideas to help you make your own year end efforts successful. You can also get all these tips in our Recognition TV video.

1. Event Themes
Your year event or award ceremony should have a theme! It can be simple or as creative as you can imagine. Some of our past themes for the Baudville Year End Party have been game show, roaring twenties, and casino. Regardless of the theme you choose, you should always make it about the guests of honor: your team.

Your theme gets applied to all the communication about your event including the invitation, presentation slides, menu, directional signs, table cards, ID cards, even your follow up newsletter article. ID cards are an important element of our year end party. Every employee receives a card (we make them with the IDville ID Maker system) when we arrive at the party. The ID card reveals table assignments and makes employees and guests more comfortable because they don’t have to remember everyone’s name! 

2. Awards
The end of the year is a popular time for the presentation of awards. Most organizations have some form of an award program. Award programs are an important part of your culture because it expresses what’s important at your organization and gives real life examples of your values. When it comes to presenting awards, your speech and prepared remarks are extremely important. Download our Award Presentation Guide for help writing an excellent award presentation.

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about popular year end awards. You can get all the details in my Popular Year End Awards Motivate Performance article. These awards are great for public recognition at a company-wide year end event.  However, not every organization gathers together at the end of the year.

Even if your organization doesn’t throw a holiday bash, you should celebrate and recognize your team! I recommend using award certificates because they’re an inexpensive option and can be personalized for the recipient. My tip for recognizing a small team is to create a unique award title for each recipient. We have some sample recognition award titles you can download from our Recognition Resource Center. Bring your team together to enjoy some holiday treats and call each member up to the front to receive their certificate. The camaraderie and public recognition may make this your employees’ favorite holiday event!

3. Gifts
Finally, the holidays wouldn’t be complete without gifts! What’s your plan for recognizing your team? When you give your team a gift at the holidays, it expresses your appreciation for their presence, contributions, and loyalty. In our last Recognition TV webisode, our product manager shared a few of her favorite gifts. Watch her video and read her suggestions on the Baudville blog. Here are a few more tips to help you with your team gift shopping:

Make it personal. Recognition that’s sincere and personal is the most effective. When your gift is personal for the recipient, it shows that you know them and value their preferences. Of course, you’re faced with the challenge of selecting something personal for every member of your team. To streamline your gift giving, you can get variations of the same item. Our gift books are perfect. They focus on a variety of different topics, like teamwork, making a difference, or thank you. Select a different book for each member of your team and write a note on the inside cover. Sign your name and date it, so the recipient will always remember where it came from.

Make it last. You also want your gift to last - not be tossed out in the post-holiday rush. Choose a gift that your team can use in the office. Take a look at ourdesktop gift collection. You can engrave the character story of your choice on several of the items, so your gift is personal and lasting. Some of my favorites are the journals and folios. We've found this kind of gift to be very effective. For example, for her first holiday at Baudville one of my coworkers received a folio from her manager. Her manager had written a personal note on the inside of the folio expressing how excited he was to have her on the team. That’s memorable!

Make it meaningful. Your recognition during the end of the year is purposeful: you want to reinforce desired behaviors and make your team feel appreciated. But your team won’t know what you’re recognizing if you don’t tell them. When you present your awards, be sure to give specific examples of the award recipient’s successes and accomplishments from the year. At Baudville, the accomplishments and contributions of our Inspire Award winners are listed before their names are revealed! It’s very effective and fun for everyone in attendance.

How do you recognize your team during the holidays? What are your best practices?

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

Every year, employees at Baudville look forward to the Year End party. The event is an opportunity for the team to enjoy camaraderie, a good meal, and recognition by senior leadership. Recognition is an important part of our year end party, and we have several awards that are announced at this event. The entire company anticipates who will be the next award recipient.

Year end awards are essential to an organization’s culture as they communicate what behaviors are valued. Award ceremonies also provide motivation for the entire team. Employees who attend the award ceremony – whether or not they’re a winner – can be inspired by a high-achieving coworker and strive to earn the award themselves.

Awards vary by organization and industry, but there are four primary award structures that you can follow to create an effective year end award program.

1. Team Awards: We all know that together everyone achieves more, so recognize the team that exceeded their goals this year. Create a set of criteria to examine each team in your organization to select a winner. At your award ceremony, present each member of the team with a Tribute Trophy. It’s an affordable trophy option, so you can give everyone a symbol of their accomplishment.

2. Service Anniversaries: Year end events are a popular time to recognize service anniversaries, such as 5, 10, 15 years, and beyond. Honoring milestone years at your event expresses your organization’s value for dedication and commitment.

3. Perfect Attendance: Don’t forget to give special recognition to your employees who had perfect attendance – that’s a huge accomplishment! Baudville presents employees who achieve perfect attendance with an award certificate in a certificate folder at our year end event.

4. Outstanding Employee Award: Most organizations have some form of this award to honor top performers. This award typically requires a nomination from managers and a selection committee. These award recipients should be the best of the best, and your award should reflect that value. At Baudville, the Inspire Award winners receive a Crystalline Tower with a custom engraved message.

Do you already have year end awards established in your organization? Great! Tell us about them!

Need more help creating a formal award for 2011? Call our recognition specialists at 1.800.728.0888 for help planning your award program.

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

Award season is upon us! November, December, and January are popular months for year end award ceremonies and events. At Baudville, we’re already excited for our Year End Party in mid-December. The entire team gets together at a Grand Rapids venue for dinner, awards, and an activity. It’s the event of the year for our company!

How does your organization celebrate the end of the year? Do you have lunch catered in your office or take the entire team out? Do you have a formal award ceremony or casually share the successes and achievements from the year?

However you celebrate the end of 2011, you want to be prepared! We have lots of content and several resources to help you get ready for your big event:

 Year End Awards and Events Webisode – Join our recognition experts for a 15 minute live video webisode (like a webinar, but way more exciting!) on Thursday, November 17. We’ll share tips and tricks from our year end event experiences.

 Engrave and Ship Same Day Trophies! Make sure your awards arrive on time! Our trophies and awards engrave and ship same day, so you’re sure to have them on time.

 Award Presentation Guide - The most important part of an award presentation is the speech you deliver. In a few minutes, you need to convey the value of the award and the worthiness of the recipient. Complete this guide to ensure you don’t miss any important award presentation details!

 Employee Event Planning Checklist - We know that employee events can significantly add to an organization’s culture, morale and engagement. We also know that event planning is a very detail-oriented undertaking. To keep your planning on track and make sure you have a fantastic event, we’ve put together this helpful checklist.

 Recognition at Work Blog – Our blog already has a robust section on award ceremonies. Read through past articles for lots of handy tips and ideas to make this year’s award ceremony extra special!

Do you need help with your year end awards and events? Ask your questions here!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.