Custom Awards: Choose the Best to Reward the Best

Businesses, schools, charities and clubs often wish to recognize individuals who make exceptional contributions to the organization. In addition, the victors of sports tournaments of all kinds deserve special recognition for their efforts. Custom awards engraved with your logo and message show your appreciation for the good work of the recipient.

Awards come in all shapes and sizes, including traditional trophies, crystal or acrylic awards, wood trophies, watches, and even custom art pieces signed by the artist. You can pay as little as a buck for a simple badge or well over $2,000 for custom art. The type of award you choose and the price you're willing to pay depends on the achievement you'll be recognizing.

Watches have traditionally be given as service awards. The company logo is usually silkscreened onto the face of the watch. Depending on the watch, the number of colors available for silkscreening can range from two to four. Other custom award items that make good service awards include crystal paperweights and coaster weights. These items are engraved or etched with your company information and congratulatory message.

Keep your sales force motivated with custom sales awards. Instead of using a parchment award certificate, have the information engraved on an impressive plaque consisting of a black piano wood base with a beveled glass face. Also, consider rewarding your top sales people with acrylic or crystal desk clocks. Star shaped trophies are another good way to recognize your star performers.

Honor volunteers with a custom acrylic, crystal or glass award. These awards come in a variety of shapes and sizes, including obelisk, angular, egg, flame, arc, pillar and book shapes. Your message is engraved or etched into the award and, in some cases, additional text can be included on the base of the award.

For winners of sporting events, whether a little league championship or a charity golf tournament, choose sports-themed awards and trophies. Olympic-themed trophies are suitable for all types of events. Golf-themed trophies include awards with golf balls, drivers and images of a golfer. Choose awards of varying sizes to recognize the teams who've won at different levels of the competition.

Honoring executives and respected charity donors and volunteers often requires a little more attention to be paid to the selection of the award. Awards to consider include elegant crystal bar sets in a mahogany storage box, exquisitely cut crystal vases, hand formed glass art pieces signed by the artist, and crystal eagles. Expect to pay $500 and up for these types of awards.

When choosing awards, don't forget to ask about your base options. Some awards come with a base standard; you may need to order the base separate for other awards. Wood bases usually can be affixed with a metal plate engraved with your message or the recipient's name.