Employee of the Month Awards & Plaques

Perpetual wall plaques, keeper awards for each winner, and how the two work together

Short answer

An employee of the month award is usually two things: a perpetual plaque that stays on the wall and gains a name plate every month, and a smaller keeper award the winner takes home. We build both, in wood with printed acrylic faces, in acrylic, and with metal name plates. You can order the perpetual alone, the keepers alone, or the pair designed to match. There is no minimum order, and a design proof is sent for approval before anything is produced.

Wood plaque with a printed acrylic face for the AMA Vintage Dirt Track National Championship Series, carrying a large number one

Two awards doing two different jobs

The wall plaque and the keeper are often treated as alternatives. They are not. They do different jobs, and programs that last tend to use both.

  • The perpetual plaque is for everyone else. It hangs where staff and customers see it, and it shows that the award is real, has a history, and is given every month.
  • The keeper award is for the winner. It carries their own name and month, goes home or onto their desk, and is still theirs after the wall plaque fills up and is replaced.

A perpetual alone leaves the winner with nothing to keep. Keepers alone leave the workplace with no visible record. If the budget only allows one, choose by what the program is for: visibility to the team and to customers points to the wall plaque, and making the individual feel recognized points to the keeper.

The general planning rules for any award that collects names over time are in perpetual trophies.

Employee of the month award options

Wall plaque icon

Perpetual wall plaque

A header carrying the award name and your logo above a grid of name plates. Wood with a printed acrylic face is the traditional choice.

Custom acrylic award icon

Keeper award

A small freestanding award or plaque for each winner, with their name and month, built from the same artwork as the wall plaque.

Layered award icon

Matched pair

Perpetual and keepers designed together, so the award looks like one program instead of two purchases.

Plan the plates before you order

The number of name plates decides the size of the plaque, and it is the decision most often regretted. Twelve plates fill in exactly one year.

  • One plaque per year: twelve plates, with the year in the header. Each January a new plaque goes up and the old one moves to a hallway or archive wall. This keeps every year complete and makes the reorder simple.
  • One plaque for several years: twenty-four or thirty-six plates, arranged so each year reads as a row or a column. It costs less per year but takes more wall.
  • More than one winner a month: if each site, shift or department names its own winner, either give each its own plaque or multiply the plates. Four sites over a year is forty-eight plates.

Decide, too, who adds each month’s plate. Plates can be built in blank from the start so every future plate matches the first, with each month’s name added as it is announced. Tell us how you want to handle that when you request a quote.

What goes on each piece

The header of the perpetual is permanent, so keep it short and free of anything that will date: the award name, the company name or logo, and the year if you are running one plaque per year.

Employee of the Month
Your Company Name
2027

Each plate carries a name and a month, nothing more. Plates that try to include a reason end up in type too small to read from across a room.

The keeper is where the reason belongs, because it has the space and the audience of one:

Employee of the Month
March 2027
Renee Okafor
For covering two roles during the system changeover
and keeping every appointment on schedule

More examples, including quarterly awards, are in employee award wording.

Keeping the award going past month six

Most employee of the month programs do not fail because of the plaque. They stall when the same few people keep winning, when nobody can say what the criteria are, or when a month is skipped and nobody restarts it. Those are program questions, and they have their own guides:

The plaque itself is covered in more detail on plaque awards, and the rest of the guides for company buyers are in the Recognition Library.

Employee of the Month Awards & Plaques FAQs

What is the best award for employee of the month?

A perpetual wall plaque with a name plate for each month, paired with a small keeper award for each winner. The plaque gives the award visibility and the keeper gives the winner something of their own.

How many name plates should an employee of the month plaque have?

Twelve if you plan to hang a new plaque each year, which is the simplest arrangement. Twenty-four or thirty-six if you want one plaque to cover several years. Multiply if more than one winner is named each month.

What should an employee of the month plaque say?

The header carries the award name and the company name or logo, plus the year if the plaque covers one year. Each plate carries only a name and a month.

Can we order just one plaque?

Yes. There is no minimum order, so a single perpetual plaque or a single keeper award is fine.

Can next year’s plaque match this year’s?

Yes. The design can be reordered with only the year changed, so a row of yearly plaques looks like one continuous record.

Do you make employee of the quarter awards too?

Yes. A quarterly award works the same way with four plates a year, which leaves room on one plaque for several years of winners.

Racer in a helmet raising both arms as gold confetti falls under stage lights
STARTING THE AWARD?

Tell us how many months to plan for

Send the award name, your logo, the number of name plates you want room for and whether winners get a keeper. We will design it and send a proof before anything is produced.

If the first presentation has a date, include it and we will quote against it.

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