Material matchup: Sizing up style, strength & symbolism in award substrates

Award substrates are like the featured performers in a music festival’s talent lineup: each can bring a totally different vibe. Crystal is the headliner: radiant and impossible to ignore. Wood is the simple, warm, and authentic acoustic set. Cultured stone? It’s the edgy, underground band whose raw aura turns heads.

Choosing the right materials is all about tuning in to the energy your customers want to express. The plethora of substrates available today means there’s something for everyone, yet the “endless opportunities for creativity” might sometimes feel like a music streaming service’s playlist options — a bit overwhelming.

Let this guide to four popular materials help you narrow down the top contenders based on your customers’ preferences and strike the perfect note for their awards needs

Crystal

It’s what often springs to mind first when people picture awards. With pristine glamour and timeless elegance, crystal is unmatched in its ability to deliver style, substance, wonder, and weight. Customers looking for designs that reflect a significant investment made in recognition will always find their perfect match in crystal.

Vibe: Classic, refined, upscale
Biggest pros: Perceived value
Customization options: Depending on the specific design chosen, crystal awards have the most choice when it comes to customization — deep etch, color fill, 3D subsurface, and full-color direct-print graphics (plus nearly any combination of them).
Weight: Heavy
Worth noting: Most suppliers have more crystal designs than other substrates.

Cultured stone

With the ability to take on the look of polished marble or a natural boulder, cultured stone awards stand out as a material with chameleon characteristics. This substrate is crafted by combining resins with crushed stone (often about 30% post-consumer recycled stone), aggregates, and pigments. This blend is then cast to create intricate shapes or detailed textures that feel like slate, carbon fiber, and more.

Vibe: Raw, rugged, substantial
Biggest pros: Aesthetic variety
Customization options: Full-color, direct-print graphics
Weight: Mid

Wood

Whether they’re looking for more eco-friendly materials, celebrating sustainability achievements, or complementing nature-inspired decor, wood awards are growing in popularity with customers. Designs can feature one or more species (like maple and walnut), are imprinted using laser engraving, and coordinate with nearly any aesthetic.

Vibe: Natural, strong, resilient
Biggest pros: Sustainability
Customization options: Laser engraving
Weight: Light

Acrylic

Today’s acrylic awards are a durable and attractive option for budget-conscious consumers who want the shine of crystal without compromising on style. Acrylic’s lower price point, coupled with generally lower shipping weight, can result in significant cost savings. Meanwhile, the available imprint option — full-color direct-print graphics — is versatile enough to accommodate nearly any design, ensuring creativity in branding and personalization.

Vibe: Vibrant, modern, clean
Biggest pros: Economical
Customization options: Full-color graphics
Weight: Light to mid

Shake it up

There’s no rule that says you can only choose one substrate for a recognition program. Mixing and matching different materials for different awards offers variety and can be a thoughtful solution for myriad reasons. Here are just a few:

1) Matching material with meaning: Having more than one substrate can be appropriate for an awards program featuring accolades with different meanings (such as choosing crystal for a president’s award, wood for sustainability-related recognition, and a rugged cultured stone design to honor grit and growth). To tie all the awards together, consider using the same fonts and branding across all awards, regardless of the imprint option.

2) Keeping to budget: Looking into multiple substrates is also helpful when budget is a consideration. Clients who love the look of traditional crystal can find attractive alternatives in acrylic options, such as an acrylic rectangle (Fig. 1) and its crystal rectangle counterpart (Fig. 2). Or your customer may prefer to have one large, prominent crystal award that will be added to a showcase, while distributing more economical acrylic designs for employees to keep for themselves.

3) Representing tiers of recognition: Different materials help visually separate levels of achievement by creating a clear hierarchy: Base = acrylic, mid-tier = stone or wood, and top tier = crystal. Tiered recognition works well for things like sales performance and years of service, as well as delineating increasing significance of an honor, such as employee of the year for a department, division, or the entire company

Designs that combine

Choosing an award made with a combination of materials is also a fun way to add personality and reflect the purpose of the honor. Depending on your customer’s need, you might suggest a cultured stone and acrylic piece for an upscale look (Fig. 3), an acrylic and aluminum style for an industrial feel (Fig. 4), or a wood and acrylic design for a refined nod to nature (Fig. 5).

Show & tell

The best way to help customers compare and contrast award substrates? Let them experience it for themselves. Make sure your showroom has samples on hand for them to see the different materials, feel the various weights, and understand available customization options. Let your showroom become the stage for their next big event!