End of Project Gift Ideas – Project Completion Awards

Most organizations appreciate the importance of recognizing individual achievement and accomplishment. However, many organizations fail to appreciate the necessity of recognizing that same effort and accomplishment when it comes to teams and groups, especially in the successful completion of significant projects.

In this article, we discuss project completion awards and some end-of-project gift ideas.

End of Project Gift Ideas for Recognizable Achievements

There are any number of team efforts worthy of recognition. They can include: bringing a new product to market, or introducing a new software iteration, surmounting a hurdle in the FDA approval process for a new drug, successfully concluding litigation for a plaintiff or defendant, qualifying for an organization-wide certification, reaching a fundraising or revenue goal, attaining an end-user threshold—among many, many other occasions.

We obviously can’t lay out ideas for team awards and gifts for every possible project or occasion. What we’ve done here instead is provide seven broad categories for team and project completion awards.

Some of these end-of-project gift ideas and categories are industry-based, and others aren’t. Obviously, these categories can’t capture the full spectrum of possible occasions for team or project completion gifts.  However, they do highlight examples of how some organizations approach, and effectively recognize, the contribution of successful teams.

1. Pharmaceutical Industry Team Awards

The pharmaceutical industry warrants a separate category here for the important reason that it’s one uniquely driven by collaborative efforts and innovation.

There are many opportunities for recognition of significant team efforts in the pharmaceutical industry. They include research collaborations, clinical studies, and development and commercialization agreements, to name just a few.

The designs in the gallery below, for instance, represent a range of team efforts. These include FDA approvals, New Drug Applications (NDA’s), First Patient Dosed in clinical trials, Investigational New Drug (IND) clearances, and first product shipments.

The gallery also includes several Lucite embedment designs incorporating a vial of the actual drug.

2. Construction/Facility Projects

Over the years, we’ve designed countless pieces for facility dedications, groundbreakings, and other construction milestones. A fresh take on these commemoratives came in a recent modular deign which commemorated individual construction stages over time (see below).

3. IT Integration Team Gift Ideas

The need to integrate systems can arise under a variety of circumstances. It may follow a merger. Or integration may be necessary to facilitate closer collaboration between joint venture partners or, for instance, suppliers and retailers.  Whatever their immediate or long-term goals, system integrations can require a substantial amount of time and expertise.

4. Litigation Team Recognition

Successful judgments provide law firms with an opportunity to recognize internal staff (and, importantly, clients as well) with litigation team awards.

As with many organizational teams, litigation groups are, again, frequently required to put in long hours over a protracted period of time. This is precisely the kind of collective effort that team awards are intended to showcase and recognize.

The Lucite design below is a great example of a team award that goes beyond a simple generic recognition piece. The design isn’t elaborate but it does offer some highly customized touches, especially in the form of photos of team members.

5. Disaster Recovery Team Recognition

This category probably doesn’t come immediately to mind as one worthy of recognition.

But it’s arguably a category that might provide contributions most worthy of team recognition.

After all, almost by definition, crises and disasters demand extraordinary contributions. And they are most often accomplished under unusually adverse and stressful circumstances.

One dramatic example is the power restoration effort mounted in the wake of Hurricane Michael, a Category 4 storm that hit the Florida Panhandle in 2018.

Two things stand out about the commemorative below, which recognized the efforts of PowerSouth employees in repairing in just nine days an astounding 448 miles of damaged transmission lines.

First, the piece is relatively simple. That said, without being extravagant it still has a great deal of cachet and value because it incorporates an actual conductor strand.

6. Project-Specific Team Awards

There’s an almost infinite array of project teams that could potentially be worthy of recognition.

These range from groups successfully involved in tasks ranging from office openings to software upgrades, product launches, internal compliance initiatives, and RFP bids.

The design below, for examples, recognizes the dedication and expertise of a team in the development of a new surgical implant. Here again, the unique aspect of this recognition piece is that it incorporates the actual implant itself.

Creative Project Names and Award Designs

Project names can add an extra dimension of cachet and perceived value to team awards. Often, these names become legendary within an organization—even if they remain somewhat cryptic to outsiders. Incorporating the official project name (even those quirky code names) directly into the award wording can both personalize and memorialize the accomplishment.

Don’t be afraid to be creativity here. Some teams use names inspired by celestial bodies (“Mission Saturn”), movie universes (“Operation Millennium Falcon”), or a favorite city, colleague, or mythological figure. Over the years, we’ve seen everything from “Project Athena” to “The Big Apple Initiative” as a basis for designs.

Whether it’s a nod to a pop culture phenomenon, an inside joke, or a term known only to the team, referencing a code name in either the award design or inscription can transform a recognition piece into a treasured memento of that distinct journey. And, every time someone glances at the shelf and sees “Project Hoth,” the story behind the achievement lives on.

7. Awards Recognizing Organizational Achievement

This final category refers to instances where recognition is for the achievement of a broader, organizational goal.

Once again, this may take any number of forms. These could include reaching predetermined targets for fundraising or revenues or sales, end-users, clients, subscribers, or setting new records in these and hundreds of other possible metrics.

The number of gifts distributed for such an organization-wide accomplishment may vary widely. All organization members and stakeholders may be included as recipients. Alternatively, it may be decided to provide recognition gifts only to an especially deserving subgroup.

However widely these gifts are to be distributed, there is an opportunity to tailor the gifts in a way that will especially resonate with recipients.

One example, shown here, celebrates the NCAA National Championship of LSU’s women’s basketball team. It incorporates a special-edition bottle created by Coca-Cola to celebrate the victory.

Handling Special Requests for Award Orders

Organizations often have unique needs when it comes to ordering recognition pieces for teams and projects. Whether you need to ship awards to multiple locations, expedite delivery for a tight timeline, customize colors, opt for special packaging, or arrange pricing for large orders, these requirements can typically be accommodated.

When you connect with us, simply share your specific requests—such as international shipping, bulk quantities, or tailored packaging solutions—and we’ll work closely with you to ensure a seamless process from start to finish. Our experience includes supporting clients with everything from coordinating deliveries across global offices to meeting accelerated project deadlines.

If you need guidance or have a complex order in mind, our team is ready to provide recommendations and options that best align with your goals, timeframes, and budget. Just let us know how we can help bring your recognition vision to life.

Recognizing Your Organization’s Project Teams 

The categories above hopefully provided you with some inspiration for more successful recognition of projects and teams in your organization.

One takeaway should be that designs don’t have to be extravagant to have perceived value among recipients. A related takeaway is that awards and gifts incorporating some design touch unique to the team or project can provide a great deal of cachet. They can also considerably boost that perception of thoughtfulness and value.

At The Corporate Presence, we’ve been helping clients for over 40 years recognize the efforts of teams engaged in projects covering a full range of industries, regions, and functional areas. Reach out to us about recognizing your organization’s achievements.