Jump to: RPI Best Practice Standards^® Award | Recognition Champion Award | Harkins Education Award | Spotlight Awards

2021 Award Submissions Are Open

Deadline to Submit is February 8, 2021

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RPI Announces Award Winners!

Best Practice Award Winners

For over 20 years, Recognition Professionals International has been the independent authority and voice in driving employee engagement through a recognition strategy based on research, practice and standards.

The RPI Best Practice Standards® are based on knowledge gained from academic literature, professional conferences, and shared experiences in developing successful recognition programs. These standards have been amended periodically to reflect the lessons learned from previous program cycles, including suggestions from RPI Best Practice Standards® judges and award recipients. They are designed to be useful for the creation and evaluation of recognition programs in the public and private sectors, large and small organizations, and organizations with single or multiple locations or functions.

View the award policy for additional details.

There are seven RPI Best Practice Standards®:

Standard 1: Recognition Strategy
Standard 2: Management Responsibility
Standard 3: Recognition Program Measurement
Standard 4: Communication Plan
Standard 5: Recognition Training
Standard 6: Recognition Events and Celebrations
Standard 7: Program Change and Flexibility

This year, organizations could submit for all 7 RPI Best Practice® Awards or select specific standards for their recognition programs. Congratulations to the 2020 Best Practice Award Winners!

Overall Best Practice Winner: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Cone Health - Standard 6 and Standard 7   Dar Al Riyadh Group - Standard 1, Standard 5, Standard 7   Microsoft® - Standard 1

CR Worldwide - Standard 1, Standard 4, Standard 6, Standard 7   Vancouver Coastal Health - Standard 6

Congratulations to these excellent organizations that have been recognized with this rigorous award and thanks to the judges who spent hours assessing the submissions to meet these well-established standards.

Pamela Sabin Recognition Champion Award Winner

The RPI Recognition Champion Award in honor of Pamela Sabin was launched 20 years ago to honor recognition practitioners who demonstrate a strong passion for employee recognition. The evaluators look for people who:

• Display leadership in taking the initiative to spread the message throughout their organization.
• Exhibit passion in promoting the principles of recognition by addressing and/or overcoming obstacles.
• The organization's programs and/or initiatives demonstrate an on-going commitment to recognition practices including measurement.
• The nominee demonstrates a commitment and serves as a role model for recognition practices in word and delivery.

This year’s recipient — Lonnie Ross, Engagement Manager, CI Strategy Group — was nominated for her outstanding work at DTE Energy in Detroit, Michigan. Here are some highlights from the nomination.

Lonnie created a system to collect examples of how employees make DTE Energy better for our customers, make their work easier and safer to do, and display strong collaboration with teammates. She writes articles where dozens of employee efforts are highlighted and shares them in an e-newsletter, Leaning In.

Lonnie identified the best channels to communicate and recognize employees. She chose an expo, a newsletter and an award. Each of these was accompanied by a large communications launch where existing internal communication channels such as the company internal website, leader-targeted emails, digital displays, table tents, fliers, etc., were leveraged.

She developed and actively manages the BEST Award (Better, Easier, Safer, Together), which has been used by DTE Energy leadership to recognize over 500 team members since its inception in 2018. The BEST Award is a quarterly award for which any employee can nominate a fellow employee. Awards are usually won by teams of 4-12 people and each person receives a sculpture hand-crafted by a local Michigan ironwork artist/college professor. These awards are delivered by their leaders in various ways across the company. Some have huge events, others have pizza lunches — however each leader sees fit. Employees who have won an award highly value the sculpture; many display them on their personal trophy walls and have special areas designated to showcase them!

Fortunately, Lonnie has the backing of a DTE Energy leadership team that cares deeply about employee engagement. The leaders have shaped a culture where recognition is important to everyone. This has contributed to DTE Energy winning its 7th straight Gallup Great Workplace award, and they are now in the 97th percentile of companies in the world in employee engagement.

RPI Spotlight Awards

Kevin Cronin, CRP

Kimberly Huffman, Dollar General

RPI Board members Kevin Cronin, CRP and Kimberly Huffman, Dollar General, have been recognized with the RPI Spotlight Award for their outstanding contributions to the board and RPI.

RPI Lifetime Achievement Award

Peter Hart, CRP, Rideau Recognition Solutions in recognition of years of service to RPI and the recognition profession.

Best Practice Standards^® Award Winners

View Past Best Practice Award Recipients

RPI Best Practice Standards^® Program and Award Information

The mission of Recognition Professional International (RPI) is to enhance organizational performance through employee recognition by:

• providing access to best practice standards, education, research, and the exchange of ideas,
• creating opportunities for our diverse membership to grow professionally, and
• advocating recognition and engagement strategies as a means to promote organizational excellence.

We believe that employee performance is the key to success for any organization. We know, based on extensive research, that employee performance is enhanced by systematic employee recognition, which is defined as the acknowledgement of individual and team behavior that supports an organization’s goals and values.

The purposes of the RPI Best Practice Standards^® program are to:

• Establish objective standards for evaluating employee recognition programs;
• Recognize organizations that successfully implement recognition programs; and,
• Provide illustrations of recognition RPI Best Practice Standards^® with RPI’s membership.

The RPI Best Practice Standards^® Awards honors organizations who implement the RPI Best Practice Standards^®, which are based on knowledge gained from academic literature, professional conferences, and shared experiences in developing successful recognition programs. Standards are designed to be useful for the creation and evaluation of recognition programs in the public and private sectors, large and small organizations, and organizations with single or multiple locations or functions.

There are seven RPI Best Practice Standards^®:

Standard 1: Recognition Strategy
Standard 2: Management Responsibility
Standard 3: Recognition Program Measurement
Standard 4: Communication Plan
Standard 5: Recognition Training
Standard 6: Recognition Events and Celebrations
Standard 7: Program Change and Flexibility

The RPI "Best Overall Recognition Program” award recognizes programs that are outstanding overall.

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Recognition Champion

Recognition Professionals International (RPI) is accepting nominations for the Recognition Champion Award in honor of Pamela Sabin. Pamela Sabin was a founding member of RPI, a charter member of the Board of Directors, and a true champion of employee recognition. The award will be presented at the RPI Annual Conference. The Recognition Champion nominees will be profiled in RPI’s newsletter and featured on the RPI website. Award recipients are encouraged to take an active role in promoting recognition through RPI leadership opportunities.

If you or someone you know exemplifies the qualities listed below, please complete the Recognition Champion Nomination Form and submit it to the RPI office by the specified deadline. Include the individual's name, a description of the organization/company, a list of the recognition program(s) initiated by the nominee, and a description of the obstacles the nominee overcame to implement these initiatives.

Include details about the outcome of the recognition initiatives. For example, indicate the percentage of total employees that participated; note if the organization realized its intended goals as a result of the initiative(s); note if the initiative(s) has/have become a part of the organization’s culture. Detail a specific recognition initiative that this person is especially proud to have developed.

This award is presented at the RPI Annual Conference. Award recipients are asked to register and attend the conference to be recognize for their contributions to the recognition industry.

The Recognition Champion Award in honor of Pamela Sabin honors people who exemplify the qualities of a recognition champion by the following criteria:

• Display leadership in taking the initiative to spread the message throughout their organization.
• Exhibit passion in promoting the principles of recognition by addressing and/or overcoming obstacles.
• The organization's program and/or initiative demonstrates an on-going commitment to recognition practices including measurement.
• The nominee demonstrates a commitment and serves as a role model for recognition practices in word and delivery.

Criteria of a true recognition champion is an individual who:

• Passionately believes in the principles of recognition.
• Has designed and implemented recognition systems within their organization.
• Communicates, demonstrates and delivers recognition throughout the organization.
• Overcomes management & employee indifference to the recognition strategy.
• Demonstrates an understanding of the importance of measurement/tracking in the on-going success of any recognition strategy.
• Has outcomes to demonstrate the successful implementation and maintenance of their organization's recognition initiative.

Eligibility Guidelines:

1. Nominations of RPI members and member self-nominations are encouraged.
2. Nominee must be a RPI professional practitioner member for a period of one year prior to submitting a Recognition Champion nomination form.
3. Recognition Champion Award winners are lifetime award winners and cannot be considered multiple times.
4. Past and present RPI Board of Directors members are eligible to be awarded the Recognition Champion Award.

Recognition Champion Award

Recognition Champion Award in Honor of Pamela Sabin

View Past Pamela Sabin Recognition Champion Award Recipients

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Harkins Education Award

This award is given by the RPI Board of Directors to recognize members who have provided leadership and commitment to RPI’ education initiatives.

Past Winners

2019: Cori Champagne, MIT

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Spotlight Awards

The RPI Board of Director members nominate individuals for this award and vote on who receives these awards. The award is given for above and beyond behavior to those who continuously add value to the Association and whose dedication toward Recognition Professionals International is exemplary.

Past Winners

2020: Kevin Cronin, CRP & Kimberly Huffman, Dollar General
2019: Kathie Pugaczewski

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