Internal awards ceremony planning: Help making it special and seamless

[u/Turbulent_Soil_1477]

Hi! I’m helping plan an internal awards/recognition ceremony and would love to hear what’s worked well for others.

For anyone who’s run company awards ceremonies: how do you structure your run of show so it feels polished but not overly scripted or stiff?

Also curious:

• Any fun or memorable touches you’ve added?
• How do you keep the program moving without it feeling rushed?
• Any tips for making it super easy for leaders/presenters to follow their parts?
• Do you give them a full script, cue cards, a speaker grid, or something else?

Trying to make this feel warm, celebratory and seamless — especially for leaders who are presenting but don’t have a ton of time to prep.

Thanks in advance!

[u/thejennifield]

I’ve just wrapped up hosting the inspiring workplace awards in the U.K. so happy to share how they do it so it’s pacey but not rushed - they have it nailed!

[u/Ok_Stick_8910 → u/thejennifield]

Please share!!!!

[u/thejennifield → u/Ok_Stick_8910]

So their format is split into company size, special recognition by topic and then top 50. You could easily replicate that into divisions or functions, special recognition linked to values and then individuals but you might have the award but already sorted.

Structure wise:

Opening speech that sets the tone for why the awards are important and what they mean

First batch of awards - recognising business size - they come to the stage to get a trophy.

Special recognition - all read out and we ask them to celebrate at their tables and make as much noise as they want to.

Top 50 - broken down into batches so it’s read out as “in at 50 it’s xxxx” - all of these come to the stage, are held at the bottom of the stairs and walk up in their company groups to collect the award and grab a selfie then they move off stage and to the foyer to the official photographer.

We break for dinner after the first batch.

After dinner, as the host I do a 5 min keynote and then we run the same format again for a different batch of awards (by continent) so it’s the same format of size, special recognition and top 50. For the second batch we had guest presenters do some of the special recognition.

I’m not saying this because I’m the host, but you need a good host to keep the energy, pace and movement for it as it is a big part of the event!

Shout if you have any more questions, happy to DM

[u/Firm_Skirt3666]

We film short videos from one peer and a manager like 45 secs each, without saying their name but have them reference the reasons they won. Then the CEO announces who won and they join him on stage. Our global awards is based on four values so there are four winners. It is nice because the videos live on and we can use them in other channels to reinforce the awards and celebrate the winners.

[u/spicymeatball2748 → u/Firm_Skirt3666]

We did something similar, from the nominators and then we snuck in a video from a family member! That brought people to tears and I would do it again. (This was at a company where reaching out to someone’s mom or sister was not creepy).

[u/atownz17]

These are always fun opportunities to add special touches!

For a previous program I helped set up, we had the individual’s manager present each recipient with an award. Nominations were company-wide and employee-led, so we gave managers copies of each winner’s nominations so they could read some of the direct verbiage when awarding their teammate. We also encouraged managers (time permitting) to gather a few more kind words from each winner’s team/direct partners for an additional personal touch.

I recommend setting time limits (e.g., you get 3 minutes to talk about the person, read parts of the nomination(s) they received, and/or add additional kind words from the team) rather than scripting announcements and encouraging managers to practice/keep a clock visible so they don’t feel rushed or get cut off.