Having an annual award show is a great way to show appreciation to your employees, or just to have a fun night with any group of people (sports teams, friend groups, etc.). My library student workers look forward to this event every year! Everyone fills out a ballot to determine the nominees of categories which combine work-related superlatives like "most likely to take your shift" with fun questions like "who would survive the zombie apocalypse". I tally the ballots and determine the top nominees for each category, which are voted on at the actual event.
How it works:
A few weeks before the awards, each student is given a ballot with all the award categories on it (see bottom of post for category examples!). I ask that they try to nominate each employee for at least one award (including the supervisors), and they can write in their own awards for people as well. Sometimes the write-ins end up being my favorite categories, like "best sneaker collection". Then I compile all the nominations and put them into a PowerPoint presentation. Each slide shows a category and the final nominees, like the slide below for our version of "loudest": Most Likely to Get Shushed.
During the award show each category is presented with the nominees, students vote with iClickers, and the winner is announced before moving on to the next category. When they win they come up to the podium and give a speech. They win a little award lollipop that I make using melting chocolates and this award show candy mold (which I found on Ebay).
Clickers:
Clickers are a classroom response system, and iClickers are one example, like small remotes with buttons labeled A, B, C, D, and E which allow you to collect responses and immediately see the breakdown of votes.. They are often used in college classes to instantly poll/quiz the students. If you don't have clickers you can use a Web tool like Socrative, Kahoot, or Poll Everywhere, or just use a show of hands. Another alternative is to use the paper ballot they got in advance to determine who the winner is (instead of only determining nominees).
Customize It:
We usually have themes, like 1920s, and everyone dresses up. It's nice to see coworkers in a different light and a more casual setting. We always have food set up so it's like the Golden Globes, where people sit together at a table and they can eat throughout the night. I suggest naming your awards something unique to your group, like how Michael Scott on The Office named his awards The Dundies.
Categories:
If you comment below with more ideas for categories I will add them to my list!
Library/Work Themed:
- Most likely to be in the library from open to close
- Best book display (the students create their own weekly book displays of any theme they choose, the best display is voted on at the awards)
- Most likely to cover a shift for you
- Most likely to get shushed
- Most likely to make a customer/patron smile
- Most likely to know more than the supervisors
- Most likely to become a librarian
- Most likely to find missing books
- Most missed employee (someone who no longer works here)
- Who has read the most books in the library?
- What would we get as a work pet?
- Best library pick-up line you've heard
- Most likely to sing at work
- Best at greeting patrons
- Where would we all work if we didn't work in a library?
- If the library had a theme song, what would it be?
- Best person to have as a shelf reading partner
- Most likely to get the difficult patrons
- Best at stopping patrons who set off the door alarm
- Best cart shelver
For Fun:
- Most likely to be on the cover of a magazine/which magazine?
- Which TV show should our staff be the cast of?
- Best dressed
- Most disorganized
- Most organized
- Celebrity lookalike
- Loudest
- Quietest
- Most like an old married couple
- Best friends
- Most likely to become president
- Most sarcastic
- Most likely to be a spy
- Most mysterious
- Most artistic
- Biggest gossip
- Clumsiest
- Best storyteller
- If we were in the Hunger Games who would win?
- Who would survive a zombie apocalypse?
- Most patient
- Best multitasker
- Best team player
- Most likely to stay calm under pressure
- Best problem solver