certificates

Celebrating First Responders With a Plaque for Service or Promotion

by Presenta Plaque | on May 28, 2018 | No Comments

24 hours a day, seven days a week, first responders are prepared to save lives.

First responders are always the first on scene for a fire, vehicle accident, identifying threats, facilitate evacuations, and treat injured parties to save lives. According to EMS World, during the September 11th attacks, police and firefighters led evacuations from the World Trade Center, helping an estimated 15,000 people escape safely.

They also stated these statistics:
•There are over 1 million firefighters in the United States, of whom approximately 750,000 are volunteers.
• Across the United States, local police departments have approximately 556,000 full-time employees including about 436,000 sworn enforcement personnel.
•Sheriffs’ offices report approximately 291,000 full-time employees, including about 186,000 sworn personnel.
•There are over 155,000 nationally registered emergency medical technicians (EMT).

Even though there may not be ‘the ultimate’ way to show our true appreciation for first responders, a heartfelt thank you goes a long way.

Presenting a certificate of appreciation or service in a high quality plaque kit each with a beautiful finish and sturdy hardware is a memorable way for departments to recognize their achievements. Presenta Plaque Kits are available in multiple sizes and finishes with gold tacks, an acrylic certificate cover, and an optional presentation box/mailer and can be used for recognition of a recent promotion, a job well done, a special occasion, their involvement in the community, even retirement.

First responders work hard, dedicate their lives their lives to protect us, provide emergency medical treatment and in many cases – save lives. Show your appreciation for them with plaques that are beautiful, versatile, functional and easy to use. Check out our website for more information and how to place your order.

How to Find Award Certificates to Place In an Award Plaque

by Presenta Plaque | on Jan 16, 2013 | No Comments

So, you’ve decided you want to give out an award certificate to use in a plaque from Presenta Plaque. Great! But how do you find the right certificate to use? Luckily, there are many options. Below are a few suggestions:

You can easily make your own certificates by following these steps. First, find a border that you like by either using clip art or downloading a pre-made border from somewhere like Success Certificates (http://www.successcertificates.com/). Enter in the standard information found on certificates. We suggest you use large cursive fonts or heavy block fonts near the top of the award and smaller fonts lower down on the certificate. Consider if it is appropriate to add more than one line to include several signatures. You can add photos or a meaningful quote to add a personal touch.
Success Certificate(http://www.successcertificates.com/) lets you browse through thousands of customizable certificates after you sign up for a free account. They offer all types of award certificates including school certificates, sports certificates and many more. The awards come in PDF and Word formats. Success Certificates also has borders you can download as JPGs so you can change their size as needed.
Southworth makes various types of paper including certificates, but they also offer a few free award certificates on their website at http://www.southworth.com/certificates/. The certificate templates are offered in two different sizes. And, for those looking for fancy certificates with pictures and crisp borders, this is an excellent site to visit.
2020site.org provides several free award certificate templates. This site offers blue or brown certificates with borders and sections where you can type or print in personalized information. These certificates can be downloaded, edited and printed. Since the files are in PDF format, you will only be able to add text and print them immediately. Unfortunately, they don’t allow you to save the certificates to your computer.
Microsoft Word has quite a good selection of certificate templates that you can use for free. Many are pre-installed with Word, but if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for, then you can search Office Online (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/templates-presentations-spreadsheets-documents-calendars-more-FX101741961.aspx?pid=CL100632981033) to browse thousands of options created by both the Microsoft company as well as user-created award certificates.

Of course, you should take the time to place the award certificate in an elegant plaque that can be hung on the wall or displayed on a desk. Going that little extra mile can turn a generic printed award into something that will make the receiver proud. Presenta Plaque offers pre-assembled plaques or plaque kits, either of which will make the certificate a cherished award.

Advantages for Companies Who Give Certificate Awards

by Presenta Plaque | on Dec 20, 2012 | No Comments

For most managers, the biggest factor in selecting an award is what they think the recipient will appreciate most. While there are several reasons why recipients increasingly prefer certificates awards to other types of awards, there are significant advantages for the awarding company who chooses to use certificates as awards.

Time and cost savings – From an administrative standpoint, the advantages of certificates over other types of awards comes down to a savings of cost and time. For many managers, this is the most important reason to choose certificates as awards. Since the award is just a simple piece of paper, there are no items to specify, order or keep in stock. Additionally, managers enjoy fewer tax and accounting issues. For most managers, the entire program only takes up a single file folder!
Flexibility. Using certificates as awards can be appropriate and appreciated for anything from reaching a minor milestone to obtaining a significant goal such as a graduation. That makes certificates great for programs for awards at a variety of levels.
High perceived value. Because of the wide range of styles of sophistication available, certificates have great trophy value.
Fast, low-risk turnaround. Gift certificates can be printed immediately in-house or filled out from stock templates, so these can have an extremely quick turnaround. Managers who have stressed about receiving trophies on time for a big event appreciate not having to wait for awards to be shipped.
Desirable to all. Even within a program, there can be many types of recipients, and they may not all have room to store various types of awards. No matter who the recipient though, everyone will have options for displaying their certificate. With all the different gift certificate styles, it’s possible to find an appropriate one for any occasion. And with Presenta Plaque’s options, managers can choose from presenting the certificates in pre-assembled plaques that they slip the certificate right into or kits that come with all the hardware and pieces needed to turn a certificate into a beautiful plaque.

Seven Common Sections on a Certificate for an Award Plaque

by Presenta Plaque | on Nov 18, 2012 | No Comments

There are no hard and fast rules for how to word or format an award certificate, but there are seven common wording sections.

Title (Certificate of Achievement)
Presentation line (is awarded to)
Recipient (Name)
From
Description (Reason for award)
Date
Signature

Title
Common titles include:

Achievement Award
Award
Award Certificate
Award of Excellence
Certificate of Achievement
Certificate of Appreciation
Certificate of Completion
Certificate of Excellence
Certificate of Participation
Certificate of Recognition
Recognition Award

While a title on a straight line is fine, text on a curved path looks fancy. It can be done in graphics software, some desktop publishing software or using the Word Art features of Microsoft Word or Publisher. The title is commonly larger in size and in a different color from the rest of the text.

Presentation Line
Following the title it is customary to include one of these phrases or something similar:

is awarded to
is hereby bestowed upon
is hereby awarded to
is given to
is presented to

Recipient
It is common to have the name of the recipient emphasized in some way, such as in italics, bold, larger or in a decorative font.

Recognition
Following the recipient’s name is some brief wording following by a description:

in recognition of [description]
is hereby awarded this Certificate of Recognition
for [description]
is hereby awarded this Certificate of Appreciation for [description]
is recognized as [description]

From
Some certificates may include a line saying who is giving the award. This may be the company or a specific individual.

Description
This section, either a few words or a brief paragraph, gives more specifics of why a person is receiving the certificate. It is an optional section and is used if needed to describe specific achievements.

If this description is more than two or three lines, it will usually look better flush left or fully-justified rather than centered, as the rest of the text is.

Date
The date can come before or after the description of the reason for the award. Various formats for dates can be used. The date used is typically the date on which the award is made. Specific dates for which the award applies may be listed in the title or descriptive text.

Signature
Signatures are important to a certificate because they make it more legitimate. It’s good to add the printed name of the signer beneath the signature line.
We suggest that for a single signature line, it be centered or aligned to the right side of the certificate. If the certificate has two signature lines, it looks balanced to place them to the left and right with a little bit of space between.

Once you’ve completed your certificate, the best way to showcase it, of course, is with one of our high quality plaques!

Stock up on Plaques!

by Presenta Plaque | on Jan 09, 2012 | No Comments

When your employees, team, teachers and students do something great, it’s customary to congratulate them with a pat on the back and an applauding “great job!” You recognize someone for a job well done to make them feel special, that their hard work didn’t go unnoticed, and you want them to have something to remember that feeling of recognition by. Why not something beautiful, something that makes the award a permanent keepsake? Throughout the year, award ceremonies take place; ceremonies like graduation, MVP awards, championship games and even spelling bees all hand out some kind of award to its winner. Some hand out trophies, while others hand out a boring, albeit creatively designed, paper certificate.

Last year, I posted a blog called “Recognition Basics”. I went to a professional basketball game where the team and sponsors were handing out awards to several students. While this was probably an incredible event for the students, the team and presenter could have made the experience more memorable. How? While I was there I noticed the awards that were being given were just a paper certificate. You can read the blog here.

Presenta Plaque offers two solutions for you to pick from, Presenta Plaque Kits or Pocket Plaques. Don’t get stuck in an embarrassing ceremony situation, turn your boring paper certificate into a beautiful plaque worth hanging! Stock up today on plaques for the year by ordering online!