Nominations: Step-by-Step Instructions

Recognize’s Nominations feature makes it easy to collect feedback and identify outstanding contributors through structured, customizable nomination processes. Whether you're running peer-to-peer nominations, manager-led selections, or anonymous "secret ballot" style voting for programs like Employee of the Month, Nominations provides a flexible way to recognize and celebrate top performers.
 

Use the quick links below to jump to different sections of the article:

Enabling the Nomination Feature as a Company Admin

Creating a Nomination Badge

Customizing your Nomination Campaign

Adding Custom Questions to Your Nomination Badges 

Automated Nomination Campaign Reminders

Submitting a Nomination as an End User

Reviewing Nominations as a Company Admin

How to Enable Nominations as a Company Admin

1. Click Menu in the upper right corner of Recognize.

2. Select Company Admin from the drop-down menu.

   
   
    

3. Select Settings from the left-side navigation menu.
4. In the right-side section jump menu, locate the Nominations section.
5. Toggle Allow Nominations to On.
6. To require a message when nominations are submitted, toggle Message is required to On.
7. To allow Manager and Admins to submit a nomination based on a received recognition, toggle Allow quick nominations to On. 
8. To allow a Team to be nominated, toggle Allow team nomination to On.
9. Make a selection to set a global limit to which a user may be awarded as the winner of a nomination badge. To manage this on an individual nomination badge level, leave it set to No limit.
   
   

Creating a Nomination Badge 

1. Click Menu in the upper right corner of Recognize.
2. Select Company Admin from the drop-down menu.
   
   
    
3. Select Custom Badges from the left-side navigation menu.
4. Select Nominations from the top-right tertiary navigation menu.

5. Select Create Badge to get started.

   
   
   
   In the left hand pop-up - enter the details of your nomination badge
    

6. Enter the name of your nomination campaign. (Required)
   Note: Nomination campaign names must be unique. 
7. Describe your nomination campaign. (optional)
8. Limit the number of times per interval that the nominations can be submitted. (optional)
9. Upload an image for your nomination badge. (Required)
   Note: a 200px by 200px transparent png works best.
10. Select Create Badge.
    
    
     

Customizing your Nomination Campaign

1. Once you have created your badge, click Details to customize your nomination campaign. 

   
   
    

2. Edit nomination campaign name if needed.
3. Change nomination badge image if needed.
4. Description: Edit or add to your campaign description. This will show on the nomination badge selection page, as well as the nomination badge listing page. 
5. Additional Details: Add additional nomination campaign details. This will not show on the nomination badge selection page - it will only appear on the nomination badge listing page. 
6. Limit award winners: Allow each employee to be selected as the winner only once during the chosen interval.
7. Quick Nominations: Allow Managers and Admins to convert received recognitions into nominations for this campaign.
8. Allow employees to nominate themselves for this campaign. 
9. Limit the number of nominations an employee can submit per time period.
10. Set your campaign periods to run automatically on a calendar interval (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, trimester, or yearly), or define custom one-time periods with specific start and end dates.
11. Roles: Define who can view and submit nominations for this campaign. Leave this field blank to make the campaign available to all users. Be sure you have completed the preliminary step of Creating Roles.
12. Save your changes.

13. A nomination badge can be deleted only if no nominations have been submitted. Once a nomination has been submitted, the badge can only be disabled to preserve historical data.

    
    

Adding Custom Questions to your Nomination Campaign

Feature Overview:

Questions allow you to capture more context when employees send or nominate Recognitions. Whether you want to ask “Which company value did this recognition represent?” or “What impact did this contribution have?” — adding questions helps guide meaningful recognition and provides valuable insights for reporting.
 

How to Add Questions:

1. After signing in, click on the 'Menu' icon in the upper right-hand corner
2. Select 'Company Admin' from the drop-down menu

3. Once in the Company Admin portal, select 'Custom Badges' from the left-side menu

   
   
    

4. Click 'Questions' from the top right tertiary menu.

5. To create a question, click 'Add Question'.

   
   
    

6. Input the question title

7. Select the question format you desire. (See options below):

   
   
    

8. Open 'Questionnaire Settings' to give the question a description. 
   Note: The description is for admins only and will not be visible to end users.

   
   

9. Toggle ON to make the question 'Required'.

10. When your question is complete, click 'Create Question'

    
    
     

11. Once your question is created - you can select one or multiple Recognition or Nomination badges to apply this question to. 

    
    
     

     

Automated Nomination Campaign Reminders

To help drive participation, Recognize automatically sends reminder notifications to eligible employees throughout the nomination period. Reminders are sent only to employees who have permission to submit nominations and who have not yet submitted a nomination during the current campaign period.

Reminder Schedule

Depending on the length of your campaign, employees may receive up to three reminders:

• Open Reminder – Sent when the campaign begins.
• Mid-Campaign Reminder – Sent halfway through the campaign to encourage participation.
• Final Reminder – Sent shortly before the campaign closes.

How Campaign Length Affects Reminders

To avoid over-notifying employees, reminders are spaced out appropriately. In some shorter campaigns, the mid-campaign reminder may be skipped if there is not enough time between reminders.

Who Receives Reminders?

Employees will receive reminders only if they:

• Are active or pending users.
• Have permission to submit nominations for the campaign.
• Have not already submitted their nomination for the current campaign period.

Notification Channels

Reminder notifications can be delivered through any enabled channels, including:

• Email
• SMS
• Push notifications

When Are Reminders Sent?

Reminder jobs run daily at 3:00 PM in your company’s global time zone setting. If a campaign is created after its start date, Recognize will automatically attempt to send the opening reminder during the next scheduled run.

What do the reminders look like?

Here is an example of a reminder email:

And here is an example of a text notification of a new campaign:

Submitting a Nomination as a User

1. Users with active nomination campaigns available to them will see the Nominate icon in the top toolbar. Click the icon to submit your nomination.

2. Choose the Nomination badge you would like to submit.

   
   
   
    

3. Select the person(s) or team you would like to nominate.
4. Include a message highlighting the contributions or achievements that support this nomination.
5. Complete any additional questions if applicable.

6. When you are ready to submit your nomination, click Nominate.
   Note: Nomination submissions are private. They are not shared on the Stream page, and the employee being nominated will not receive a notification.

   
   
    

Reviewing Nominations as a Company Admin

1. From the Company Admin portal, select Nominations from the left navigation menu.
2. Choose to view 🟢 Active, 🟡 Upcoming or ⚪ Past/Closed campaigns 

3. Filter campaigns by interval, date, badge name or search by a key word.

   
   
    

4. Click the arrow next to a campaign to view its details.

   
   
   
    

5. On the campaign details page, you can view all nominees, the number of nominations they have received, and who submitted each nomination. 
    

   

    

6. Click 'Award' to record the winner(s) of the nomination campaign. 
   Note: Recording a winner does not send a notification or automatically issue a reward. It is used to track campaign winners and enforce any winner frequency limits configured for the campaign. 

   
   
    

7. Select View Details next to a nominee to see the individual nomination messages and any responses to custom questions.

   
   
   
    

8. View or export all Nomination Votes for the Nominee
    

   

Viewing All Votes

1. From the Nominations overview page, click 'All Votes' to view or export the details of all nomination submissions.
   
   

   
    

2. Choose the date range for the nomination submissions you want to view.
3. View submissions by badge.
   Note: Selecting a badge will display responses to custom badge questions.
4. Export nomination submission details based on your selected filters.

5. Use the column visibility dropdown to display additional nominator and nominee attributes, such as department, country, and employee ID.
    

   
   
   
    If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact us at support@recognizeapp.com and our team will be happy to help.