A recipient category is a named tier within one award, such as Gold, Silver, or Four Year Winner. Use categories to group the people or organizations who receive an award. Categories appear wherever staff record or review a recipient, nominee, nomination, or application for that award. See Where Recipient Categories Appear for the full list of places a category appears outside its own setup.
Where to Find It
You set up recipient categories inside an award, in the award’s setup area under the Recipients group. The Recipients group appears only when recipient categories are turned on for that award, though you can still open the setup pages directly by address when the feature is off. In practice, categories are not usable for an award until you turn the feature on, because the standard setup menu has nothing to create or assign without it. Once categories exist for an award, staff can choose them wherever a category is available, including when adding a recipient.
Prerequisites
- The award must already exist and load before you can open its category setup.
- Turn on recipient categories for the award to show the Recipients group in the award’s setup menu.
Creating and Naming a Category
Give the category a name, such as Gold or Four Year Winner. When you create the category, Rhythm builds a permanent identifier from the name and the award. The identifier uses the award’s prefix, which keeps the category tied to the award where you created it. You can set that identifier only while the category is new; after you save, you cannot change it.
A recipient, nominee, nomination, or application can belong to only one recipient category at a time. If you need to separate outcomes within a category, such as Winner and Honorable Mention within Gold, create a separate category for each outcome.
Each award has one set of recipient categories, and that same set appears on recipient, nominee, nomination, and application records. Recipient categories are not the same as application processes or review buckets. If you use application processes or review buckets as stand-ins for categories, queries and email merge fields can behave inconsistently. Use recipient categories when you need reliable category-based reporting or messaging.
| Setting | Requirement | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Required | Appears wherever the category is shown. Two categories in the same award can have the same name, but their identifiers must be different. |
| Identifier | Set automatically from the name when the category is created; fixed afterward | Must use the award's prefix. You cannot move a category to a different award later. |
| Award | Required, set when the category is created | Cannot be changed once saved. |
Renaming a Category
Open an existing category and change its name. Renaming a category does not affect any recipient, nominee, nomination, or application already recorded under it. Those records keep pointing to the same category, and the category now shows the new name. You cannot leave the name blank; Rhythm will not save an empty name.
Reordering an Award's Categories
When an award has two or more categories, you can drag them into the order you want on the setup list. That order affects only this setup list. Other screens that show the award’s categories, including pickers on nomination, nominee, and application forms, list the categories by name instead.
Deleting a Category
Rhythm will not delete a category that is still in use:
| Blocked by | What it means |
|---|---|
| A recipient record | At least one recorded recipient is in this category. |
| A nominee, nomination, or application | At least one of these records names the category. |
Warning
An application process that limits eligibility to a particular recipient category does not prevent that category from being deleted. If you remove a category that an application process still refers to, check that process afterward.
You cannot undo a category deletion from the Console.
Deleting an Award with Categories
Rhythm will not delete an award while it still has at least one recipient category. This behaves differently from the award’s application processes, fees, and coupons, which are removed automatically when you delete the award. Remove the award’s recipient categories before you delete the award itself.
Change Impact and How to Revert
Renaming a category takes effect immediately and changes only the display name; it does not change any records already using the category. Reordering changes only the order shown in this setup list. Deleting a category is immediate and permanent from the Console, with no undo, so double-check that nothing still needs it before you delete it.
Validation and Errors
| What you see | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The save is refused | The name is missing, or the identifier does not start with the award's own identifier | Enter a name, and do not hand-edit the identifier to point at another award |
| The delete fails | A recipient, nominee, nomination, or application still names the category | Remove or reassign those records first, or leave the category in place |
| The award's delete fails | The award still has at least one recipient category | Delete the award's recipient categories first |