How to make award certificates

Giving certificates to recognise achievement or for a course completed can be a great morale booster for adults and kids alike. Award certificates can be made to look great and give the recipient a real sense of accomplishment. in this article, we give you some tips of how to make impressive certificates.

Borders and format

The most important thing about a certificate is that it looks professional. You can buy blank certificates from a stationary or office supplies shop that already has a border printed on it. These often come with gold or silver inlays to make the certificate look very presentable. You can use these or you can make your own.

Border

Start with the border. You can find images online to use and ready-made borders to download. Using a fancy border is nice but you can also customise the border to be relevant to the certificate. Use graphics that represent the area of work or skill that you are rewarding. If you are making certificates for kids, choose something that they will like.

Format

Next, decide whether your certificate will be in portrait or landscape format. Landscape is more commonly used but its really down to your own preference. Choose a professional-looking font to write the text. You will need to include the heading – certificate of achievement – or something similar. Then the words – is awarded to – and follow this with the person’s name on a new line.

You can change the font for the person’s name to make it stand out more or leave a gap and fill in later with an ink pen or pen of a different colour.

Extra details

What is the award for

Then, add any extra details like what exactly the award is for. Something like 'in recognition of his commitment to study' or 'for his achievement in completing such and such a course' and detail the achievement but keep it tight as you neither want to clutter the certificate nor do you have much room.

At the bottom of the certificate, leave an underlined space for the signature of the teacher, employer or person of recognition who will sign on the certificate and also date it. End by adding a relevant graphic or company logo.

Company stamp

If you have a company stamp, you can purchase gold stickers to add to your certificate that will look like a seal when you use the stamp. You can give the certificate as it is or put in a certificate wallet or frame to create a certificate that will look like a fantastic achievement award.