Why Participation Awards Are a Good Thing
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few decades, you’ve probably heard of participation awards and the debate surrounding them.
While some say that this type of acknowledgement actually detracts from success and accomplishment, nothing could be farther from the truth!
Keep reading to learn more about participation awards, and why they’re actually a great idea.
Internal Motivation
A participation award acknowledges every individual taking part in an activity, unlike trophies or other placement awards. This allows participants to build their own internal motivation rather than seeking an external reward.
Some opponents to participation awards say that this teaches bad habits, or reinforces the belief that it isn’t important to work your hardest. But, in truth, it also demonstrates that there are plenty of reasons to achieve your goals and work hard – whether you perform better than your peers, or not.
This can be an especially useful lesson for children, and serve to prepare them for the professional world – where top performance is often expected, and not necessarily acknowledged or rewarded.
Social Comparison
Whether you personally think that participation awards good or bad, there’s no denying that they create social comparisons between individuals. And, that’s not always a healthy thing!
Comparing yourself to those around you can create feelings of looking down others. Instead, a more balanced approach is to compare current performance to past performance. After all, personal growth and improvement is essential – being better than somebody else isn’t.
Self Esteem
Even if it’s something small like a printable certification of participation, acknowledging an individual’s contributions can boost their self-esteem. This, in turn, can help form a positive self-image an overall feeling of worth.
While most adults have already established set opinions about themselves, this is especially important among kids.
In the past, it was believed that demonstrable winners and losers helped to build up self-esteem via accomplishment. But, now we know better. Every participant deserves recognition, even if they didn’t perform better than their peers.
Easy Equality
This type of recognition doesn’t have to cost a ton, or create a financial burden. Affordable options like printable participation awards work just as well as a fabricated gift or trophy. And, they’re easy to create on your own.
All you’ll need is access to a computer and printer, and an easy to follow certificate of participation template. You can make your awards as creative or unique as you’d like, and even if you print them in color, they’ll only cost a few cents each!
The Importance of Participation Awards
Now that you’ve learned a bit about how important participation awards can actually be, you’re probably ready to try and create your own. That’s awesome!
Remember, this form of positive reward is a great way to acknowledge a job well done despite what you might have heard.
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