Three free, print-ready award certificates for school running programs: a mileage milestone certificate, a perfect attendance streak award, and a most improved runner certificate. They are landscape letter size and designed to print well on card stock. The download is free and does not require an email address.
Download the Certificates (PDF)
The Three Designs
A club needs to recognize more than speed, so the pack includes one certificate for each of three categories. The milestone certificate has a blank mile figure and recognizes distance: fill in 5, 25 or 100 to match your ladder. The streak certificate recognizes consistency, which every walker and slower jogger in the club can reach. The most improved certificate has before and after blanks and recognizes progress, so students who are not near the top of the mileage list still have an award to work toward. The reasoning behind these three categories is covered in awards & incentives.
Printing Tips
- Card stock, 65 lb+ — plain paper creases on the way home. Card stock survives the trip and is more likely to be kept.
- Color for milestone tiers — the blue border looks more official printed in color than in grayscale.
- Batch-print blanks and fill in the names by hand with a marker. At elementary age a hand-lettered name feels more personal than a mail merge.
- Two signatures minimum — the coordinator and the principal. Students treat the award more seriously when the principal has signed it.
Presenting the Certificates
Hand the certificates out in front of the school rather than sending them home. Read the names out loud, shake hands and applaud every level, not only the highest mileage. Hold the presentations monthly so students always have a recognition date coming up, and repeat the same names on morning announcements and a hallway board in between. A certificate presented at an assembly means more to a student than the same certificate that arrives in a take-home folder.
Tracking Who Earned Each Award
Printing the certificates is the easy part. The work is knowing which students crossed which milestone since the last assembly, and knowing it in time. Done by hand, that means a weekly spreadsheet session checking every runner against every level, and it is the step award programs most often fall behind on. Student Lap Tracker keeps those totals current from scanned laps: the Award List report names every earner and the date they qualified, and the system prints personalized certificates with the student name, exact mileage, your school and your mascot, ready for the next assembly. See sample reports.
Certificate FAQ
Q: What certificates are in the download?
A: Three landscape, letter-size designs: a mileage milestone certificate with a blank mile figure, so it fits any rung of your ladder; a perfect attendance and streak award for consistency; and a most improved runner certificate with before-and-after blanks. Between them they cover the three things clubs recognize: distance, consistency and improvement.
Q: How do you fill in and present the certificates?
A: Hand-write or type the student's name, the milestone figure and the date, then collect coordinator and principal signatures. Present them at an assembly rather than sending them home in a folder, since the recognition in front of classmates is the part students remember. Card stock (65 lb or heavier) holds up better, and color printing is worth it for the milestone tiers.
Q: Can we customize these with our school name and mascot?
A: These printables are generic so that any school can use them as they are. If you want certificates carrying your school name, your mascot image and each student's exact mileage, Student Lap Tracker's awards engine generates those automatically from your scan data. Schools use them most often at award assemblies.
Q: What award levels should certificates celebrate?
A: The standard elementary ladder of 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles, plus streak awards such as five straight sessions or a perfect month, and improvement awards after each timed run. The milestone certificate leaves the mile figure blank, so one printable covers every rung of whatever ladder you choose.
Certificates Printed From Your Lap Data
The awards engine fills in your school name, your mascot and each student’s recorded mileage.