An award is the main record that holds everything else in Awards, including nomination processes, application processes, fees, and recipient categories. Use this article when you need to create a new award or update an existing one.
Before you create an award, finish the broader Awards setup it depends on, including award types, application or nomination forms, custom fields, and page layouts. The award form uses those pieces, but it does not create them for you.
What It Controls
The award record controls the award’s name, type, identifier, and date. It also controls whether members can see the award in the Portal, when it appears there, what description members read, which participation options are available, whether each person has an application limit, and which page layouts staff use when they view award records.
How to Create an Award
- Go to Awards & Nominations › Awards and choose Create a New Award from Scratch.
- Choose the Type.
- Enter a Name, then adjust the suggested ID if you want a different identifier.
- Enter an Award Date.
- Decide whether the award should appear in the Portal and, if so, whether it should appear only during a limited time.
- Turn on the features this award offers — Nominations, Applications, Recipient Categories, Reviews — and complete any award custom fields that appear.
- Choose Save Changes.
Result
Rhythm creates the award and opens its applications, nominations, or recipients page, depending on which feature is turned on. Before you publish the award, use its Setup menu to configure the award’s processes and fees.
To edit an existing award, open the award and go to Setup › Award Details.
Tip
Start the award name with a number, such as "2026 Delta Scholarship," so you can tell one year’s award from another in lists and reports. Rhythm shows a reminder when a new award name does not start with a digit, but the reminder is only advisory. If your account collects several awards with very similar year-based names over time, rename or retire the ones you no longer use so staff do not choose the wrong record when they set up Portal visibility for the current award.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: | Active award types in your account | The type you chose most recently in this browser, if any | Required. Groups the award under one award type |
| Name: | Any text | Empty | Required |
| ID: | Letters, digits, underscores, vertical bars, colons, and hyphens | Suggested from the name | Required. You can edit it only before you save the award for the first time. Every record created inside the award starts with this identifier |
| Award Date: | A date | Empty | Marked required, but you can currently save an award without a date. An award without a date never counts as "open" on the dashboard, so enter one anyway |
| Should this award be visible in the portal? | Yes, No | Yes on a new award | Controls whether members can see the award at all |
| Display in portal from: / Show in portal until: | Date and time | Blank ("now" / "no end") | Appears only when Portal visibility is Yes |
| Description (displays in portal) | Rich text | Empty | Appears to members on the award’s Portal page |
| Nominations, Applications, Recipient Categories, Reviews | On, off | Applications on for a new award; the rest off | Controls which participation features this award offers. Turning a feature off hides its cards on this form and its menu in the award’s Setup, but it does not stop people from using records that already exist. Award applications do not automatically send approval or decline emails when a decision changes an application's status, so send that message yourself if applicants need to be notified |
| Maximum # of Applications per Person: | A whole number of 1 or more | Blank (unlimited) | Appears only when Applications is on. Limits how many applications one applicant can submit, and Rhythm enforces the limit when a member applies through the Portal |
| Page layouts (Nomination, Nominee, Application, Recipient) | Page layouts in your account that match the record kind | None | Controls which layout staff see when they work with the award’s records of that kind. The Recipient layout is always offered; the others appear only when the matching feature is on |
| Award custom fields | Per field definition | Per field definition | Appears when your account has defined custom fields for awards |
A page layout you choose here controls the editing view staff use for that record kind in the Console. It does not necessarily control the read-only display members see on a submitted record in the Portal, or the field order on a record's 360 page. Those areas can keep their own layout after you change this setting. Awards does not have a separate, dedicated 360-style admin layout beyond these page layout pickers; if another Rhythm application offers a configurable 360 layout, this is the closest equivalent in Awards.
Award custom fields are different from application custom fields, even though both live under the same award. Award custom fields appear on the award record itself, for staff only. Application custom fields appear on submitted applications, are visible to applicants, and show up on the application's 360 page. There is no quick way to move a field from one kind to the other, so recreate it in the right place instead.
Warning
If you enter only a Portal start date and leave the end date blank, Rhythm copies the start date into the end date as soon as you change it. That creates a display window that ends the instant it begins, so the award never appears in the Portal. Set the end date after you set the start date, or leave both dates blank for an award with no end.
Dependencies and Precedence
- The Type picker shows only active award types. If an award already uses an inactive type, the picker shows no selection until you choose a different type.
- Page layout pickers show only layouts that match the record kind for platform-defined page layouts. If you chose a layout and later deleted it, Rhythm refuses the save while that layout is still selected.
- Turning a feature switch off does not remove or hide records already created under it. It only changes what this form and the award’s Setup menu show from that point forward.
- If you turn on Application Updates in the Portal for one of the award's application processes, saving that process requires a modification deadline. See Application Processes.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Renaming an award is safe because the identifier never changes, and every other record under the award relies on that identifier.
- Changing the type, switches, or application limit on an existing award does not change processes, fees, or categories already created under it. Those records keep their own settings until you change them separately.
- The identifier can never change after you save the award for the first time. If you need a different identifier, clone the award under the new one instead. The award's Portal URL is built from this identifier, so the URL cannot change either. Cloning under a new identifier is also the only way to get a different URL.
- Deleting an award is covered separately; see Delete an Award.
Permissions
Creating a new award requires the create permission described in Awards Staff Permissions and Policies, which the day-to-day user and administrator policies grant. Changing or deleting an award you already have open does not check another Awards permission beyond access to the Awards Console. Any signed-in staff member who can reach the award’s Setup area can change or delete it. Defining custom fields for every award in your account is administrator-only.
Validation and Errors
- Name and Type are required, and the form lists every missing field before you can save.
- An identifier already in use by another award is refused when you save. The check that appears while you type is advisory only.
- If you set an application limit, it must be 1 or more. Rhythm refuses zero and negative numbers.
- If two people edit the same award at the same time, Rhythm refuses the second save with a message that the record has changed since it was retrieved. Reopen the award to review the other person’s changes before you save your own.
- Your account can hold a very large number of awards, but the number is not unlimited. After your account reaches that ceiling, Rhythm refuses any additional creates.