Award coins are designed to recognize achievement, performance, and results. Unlike recognition coins that say “thank you,” award coins say you earned it.
Whether you’re celebrating top performers, contest winners, or milestone accomplishments, custom award coins create a tangible symbol of success that people take pride in. From corporate competitions to elite recognition programs like President’s Club, award coins turn achievement into something lasting.
Organizations across industries use award coins, achievement coins, and award coin medallions to highlight excellence, reinforce performance, and motivate teams to reach the next level.
Trusted by teams across industries
Award Coins That Represent Real Achievement
The best employee award coins do not just mark a moment. They represent the effort it took to get there. From high polish finishes to detailed 3D designs, every element of your coin can reinforce the prestige of the award. Add custom engraving, sequential numbering, or dual-sided artwork to highlight both the accomplishment and the organization behind it.
Whether you are recognizing individual performance or team success, custom award coins elevate the moment and make it unforgettable.
How to Make Award Challenge Coins
Organizations that recognize performance and achievement use award challenge coins in a variety of ways. They’re presented at award ceremonies, team competitions, sales milestones, and leadership events to celebrate success and highlight top performers.
Creating custom award challenge coins starts with defining what the award represents. Are you recognizing sales performance, team excellence, or a major milestone? Consider incorporating your company logo, the name of the award, and any key achievements or dates. A strong design should feel meaningful and clearly reflect the accomplishment being honored.
Send us your ideas by filling out a free quote form, and we’ll handle the rest. It also helps to explore the different customization options available for award coins before getting started. Take a look below to discover ways to elevate your custom award challenge coins and create something recipients will be proud to earn and keep.
Award Challenge Coin Design Options
When it comes to creating custom award challenge coins, one of the first things to consider is the type of metal plating you need. The finish you choose can help communicate the level of achievement and prestige tied to the award. Depending on your program, you may even want to order the same design in multiple plating options.
For example, many organizations choose gold, silver, and copper plating to represent different tiers of performance. Gold can highlight top performers or highest honors, while silver and copper recognize additional levels of achievement. Not every award program requires tiers, but this approach creates a clear and impactful recognition system.
Award coins often include company logos, award titles, and event details, so the next important design element to consider is color. We use Pantone colors for all of our corporate challenge coin designs, making it easy to match your brand and maintain consistency across your awards.
Make sure to send us the Pantone colors your organization uses, and we’ll apply those exact colors to your coins for a clean, professional look.
Another key factor in award coin design is size and shape. The standard size for challenge coins is about 1.75”, but many award coins are made larger, typically between 2” and 3”, to create a more substantial and premium feel. If you want to make your awards stand out even more, custom shapes or functional designs are a great option.
Functional coins, like bottle opener coins, add a unique and practical element to your award. These designs not only look impressive but also give recipients something they can use and keep on display. For proper functionality, bottle opener coins should be at least 2.5” in size.
Sales Contests & President’s Club Coins
For sales organizations, the award coin is the trophy that travels. Quota clubs, top-performer leaderboards, and annual President’s Club programs all need something more personal than a plaque — a coin the winner carries out of the ceremony and keeps within reach for years. President’s Club coins in particular tend to be premium builds: gold or dual plating, 3D-sculpted logos, diamond-cut edges, and the program year struck into the design so each induction becomes part of a collectible series.
Contest coins work at every tier of a program, too. Strike the same design in gold, silver, and copper for first, second, and third place, or engrave each winner’s name and rank on the reverse. Because the coin is tied to a result — not just participation — it carries the kind of status that keeps a leaderboard interesting all year.
Milestone & Achievement Coins
Achievement coins recognize a concrete accomplishment: a professional certification earned, a major project delivered, a safety record held, a production milestone reached. They differ from tenure awards — that’s what years of service coins are for — and from general appreciation, because each coin names the specific achievement and the date it happened.
That specificity is what makes them work. Sequential numbering, engraved recipient names, and dual-sided artwork pairing the organization’s emblem with the achievement itself all turn a one-time accomplishment into something permanent. Many organizations keep a standing achievement coin design on file with us and reorder as new milestones are hit — molds stay on file for two years, so reorders skip the mold fee entirely.
Pricing and Shipping Large Orders of Award Challenge Coins
The cost of custom award challenge coins depends on the size of your design and the total quantity ordered. For a detailed breakdown of unit pricing, you can visit our challenge coin pricing page. The best way to get accurate pricing for your specific project is to fill out a free quote form.
We’ll provide you with a free quote along with a digital proof of your artwork. Standard production takes 3–4 weeks; shipping is additional (free, typically a few days). Need coins at more than one office or site? We can usually arrange delivery to a second business location for an additional shipping charge — talk to your sales rep about the details. For events or teams spread across many locations, most customers have us ship everything to one address with our free shipping and redistribute from there; we don’t offer shipping to individual recipients’ addresses.
Many of the organizations we work with distribute award coins across multiple offices, departments, or event locations. Most choose to have all coins shipped to a single location and handle distribution internally. If you need a second business location on the same order, we can usually arrange that for an additional shipping charge — ask your sales rep.
Most award coins we produce are between 1.75” and 2”, striking a balance between detail and a premium feel.
Color is another important consideration when designing your coins. We use Pantone colors for all custom challenge coin designs to ensure accurate brand matching. If your organization has specific brand guidelines or color codes, include them when submitting your quote, and our design team will incorporate them into your coins.
If you have any questions about pricing or shipping large orders of award challenge coins, feel free to give us a call or email us at info@signaturecoins.com.
Recognize Achievement with Custom Award Challenge Coins
Our Signature Coins team has been creating high-quality custom challenge coins since 2000. Award challenge coins are a powerful way to recognize achievement, celebrate performance, and reinforce a culture of excellence across your organization.
A custom-designed award coin gives your team something tangible to represent their success. Whether you’re honoring top performers, milestone achievements, or competition winners, these coins create lasting recognition that people are proud to earn and keep.
What kind of award coin are you looking to create? Share your ideas with us, and we’ll help bring your vision to life with a design that truly reflects the achievement.
From Your Vision to a Finished Masterpiece
Don't touch a pixel. Our award-winning design team handles everything, you just share your idea and approve the proof.
Explore Finishes & Upgrades
Challenge Coin Pricing
Color on Both Sides (Up to 7 Colors per Side)
| Size | 50 |
|---|---|
| 1.5" | $6.03 |
Color on One Side (Up to 7 Colors)
| Size | 50 |
|---|---|
| 1.5" | $6.03 |
No Color (Metal Only)
| Size | 50 |
|---|---|
| 1.5" | $6.03 |
Mold Setup Fees
| Size | 50 |
|---|---|
| 1.5" | $6.03 |
Custom Coin Customer Reviews
Frequently Asked Questions
Recognition says thank you; an award says you earned it. Recognition coins mark appreciation — work anniversaries, everyday above-and-beyond moments, team milestones — while award coins are tied to a specific accomplishment: a contest won, a quota reached, a certification earned. Both use the same design options and pricing, so the real difference is the story on the coin. If you’re building an appreciation program, start with our employee recognition coins; if you’re crowning a winner, you want an award coin.
Read more in our Help CenterAbsolutely. Sales award coins are a favorite for quota clubs, top-performer leaderboards, and annual President’s Club programs — a physical trophy winners carry with them, not another plaque for a shelf. We can match your program’s branding, strike tiered versions in different finishes, and add engraving or sequential numbering for each winner. See our award coins page for examples.
Read more in our Help CenterYes. Achievement coins are one of the most common award coin projects we design — certifications earned, project completions, safety records, production milestones. Designs usually pair the organization’s logo with the specific achievement and its date, and many programs add sequential numbering or engraving so each coin is unique to its recipient.
Read more in our Help CenterOur minimum for custom molded coins is 50 per design. Per-coin pricing improves at every quantity tier above that — compare them on our challenge coin pricing page.
If you need fewer than 50, our no-minimum custom coin builder lets you order as few as one coin, and stock and personalized coins have no minimum either. We can also produce a 5-coin pre-production sample against a larger order, though it isn’t cost-effective on its own.
Read more in our Help CenterThrough years of experience, we’ve been able to streamline our process and keep you informed on timing.
After the custom coin design (Proof) is approved and ordered, the project goes directly into production. Standard coins take 3–4 weeks of production; shipping is additional (free, typically a few days).
For instance, a non-colored antique design with no upgrade features typically takes 3–4 weeks. Special designs — dual plating, 3D, special enamels — add production time.
We also offer USA Made Rush for coins: simulated enamel in 3–5 days of production, die struck in 7–10 days. Check in with us for timelines for your specific design.
Read more in our Help Center
