How to List Awards on Your Resume [+ Examples]

Should you add awards to your resume?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. In essence, add awards to your resume if you have relevant and impressive awards to share.

Awards are a great way to bolster your resume if you lack work experience or the experience you’ve accrued isn’t necessarily relevant to the position. Sometimes your academic accomplishments can bring to light skills an employer needs — as you can see in our resume examples.

Plus, unlike personal statements that claim you have a great work ethic or attention to detail, honors and awards prove your abilities. They offer a clear, third-party recognition that you have a certain skill set or meet a qualification.

Now that you know the importance of honors and awards, let’s see how you can add them to your resume.

How to list honors and awards on your resume

Adding awards to your resume is easy. You can do it in five simple steps.

But before you get started, there are two important ideas to remember:

• Don’t forget to pick an appropriate resume design, whether through a Resume Builder like ours or as a Word file or Google Doc. Whichever template you choose can greatly impact the placement of your awards section.
• Make sure to write a cover letter and, if possible, choose a cover letter template that matches your resume. Submitting a well-designed cover letter will make your application more appealing.

With that out of the way, let’s move on to learn how to add awards and honors to your resume.

1. Decide where to put your awards

First, you have to decide where you’ll put your awards. After creating a resume outline and choosing a layout, you’re ready to format your resume. But where should you place the awards section?

Three reasonable options exist: education, work history or a stand-alone section.

Let’s look at resume awards examples for each option.

Education section

If most of your awards are related to academic performance, consider adding them to your education section. Simply list them after each degree.

Here’s what it looks like when you put awards in the education section:

Work history section

Your job history is the most important part of most resumes. If you have one or two awards related to specific jobs — “Employee of the Month,” for example — you can cite them in one of your bullet points.

If your award is quite impressive, you can even mention it in your resume profile or objective statement. But seriously — it’s got to be good!

Here’s what it looks like to add awards to your work history section:

Separate awards-focused section

Job seekers with many different types of awards may be better served by a distinct awards section to emphasize them.

Here’s what it looks like when you create a standalone awards section:

Each route offers a different way of promoting your achievements, but all of them make you look like a strong candidate.

2. List any awards you’ve received

The next step is putting together your list of honors and awards. Think outside the box. Were you regularly on the dean’s list in college? Did you win an award for a special project? Were you recognized by one of your previous employers?

Think back on your experiences to create a complete list of achievements. You can always whittle it down — which is what we’ll do next.

3. Only include significant awards

Once you have a good list, it’s time to figure out what really belongs on your resume.

For starters, you may have earned many awards in your younger years. However, unless you are freshly out of high school, they probably don’t have a place on a professional resume.

Aside from dropping high school awards, revisit your other awards and ask yourself two questions:

1. Is this award notable or impressive?
2. Is this award relevant to the job I’m trying to land?

If the answer is yes to both questions, add that award to your resume!

Also, consider including a bullet point that explicitly explains the significance of each award, especially if it’s not immediately apparent to someone outside your field. This clarity can help employers understand the value and relevance of your accomplishments.

4. Touch on award name, date, recognition level and purpose

Each award listing needs to have the right information. Here’s what an award listing always includes:

• Award name
• Date/year received
• Why you won the award
• The scale of the award, and metrics associated with it (i.e., the number of people enrolled in a competition, or whether the award is state, national or international)

OK, now it’s time to make sure your awards contain the most important information of all: the impact.

5. Emphasize the award’s impact

Saying you received an award is fine, but to really impress an employer you need to make it clear how the award made an impact.

For example, if you won an award for increasing sales at your company, highlight the percentage or dollar amount of the increase. That gives the employer crucial context for your achievement.

OK, now you are ready to complete the awards section of your resume. But which types of awards should you include? Read on to find out.

Types of awards to put on your resume (with examples)

There are so many different types of awards — all of which are potentially great additions to your resume.

Let’s go through each category so you can consider every possibility.

Academic awards

Any academic awards beyond basic extracurricular activities should be considered.

Typical academic achievements you’ll find on a resume include:

• Dean’s list: This award shows you reached a certain level of academic excellence (a GPA of 3.5 or higher) in a given semester.
• Honor society: Similar to the dean’s list, being a member of an honor society shows you maintained a high level of academic performance.
• Scholarships: Feel free to include any scholarships you received for your academic achievements.
• Academic competitions: Whether you created an award-winning robot or won your state’s debate championship, competitions are perfect for your awards section.
• Research awards: Fellowships and other recognition for your research are always welcome additions.

Remember that after a couple of years in the job market, you can stop including high school awards. Collegiate awards should stick around longer, up to 10 years or so depending on their importance.

Let’s see how a successful candidate organized this section.

Example for your resume:

Example for your resume:

If you work in academia or a profession like medicine or law, you may want to list your achievements in a curriculum vitae (CV) instead of a resume. Why? CVs are longer documents that give the applicant as much space as they need to recount their full credentials, including publications, professional memberships, teaching experience and research projects.

Our CV examples show you what these documents look like, and you can always use our CV Maker to create one.

Professional awards

If you’re looking for a job in the private sector, professional awards are even better than academic ones because they show you can perform in the workplace.

Here are a few types of awards that would always be welcome on a resume:

• Employee of the Month
• Salesperson of the Year
• Leadership awards, such as being recognized for mentorship or team leadership
• Awards for being the critical member of an industry organization
• Awards for an outstanding performance in your industry, such as a journalist winning the Pulitzer Prize

Let’s see how this candidate presents their professional awards:

Military awards

If you’re a veteran, including military awards can be a powerful way to showcase your valuable soft skills like work ethic, collaboration, dedication and personal integrity.

The key is making sure your military awards are relevant to the job at hand. For instance, let’s say you’re applying for a STEM job. In that case, you probably shouldn’t include the award you earned for being a good marksman.

On the other hand, personal decorations and service awards are often great inclusions because they are (1) difficult to get and (2) speak to a candidate’s personal qualities, like leadership abilities or dependability.

Here are a few military awards to put on a resume:

• Senior NCO of the Year
• Officer of the Year
• Silver Star
• Purple Heart
• Commendation Medal

Again, even if some of these aren’t directly related to the job, employers like to hire someone who possesses exceptional character, which all of the awards above prove you have.

Just remember to include a line that explains the significance of the award, particularly if you are going into the civilian workforce for the first time.

Here’s an example of awards in a work history section:

Athletic awards

Athletics awards are another category that is surprisingly relevant to a wide range of jobs.

While some athletic awards are given for physical performance, there are some awards that speak to underlying characteristics — teamwork, leadership, integrity — which are prized by employers.

Here are a few common awards given out by colleges and high schools around the country:

• Most Valuable Player
• Athlete of the Year
• All-Conference Team
• Scholar-Athlete Award

Let’s see an example of how one candidate presents athletic awards on their resume:

Remember to explain the significance of the award. The example above clearly lays out why this candidate received her awards, emphasizing their significance.

Community awards

Working with your community isn’t only meaningful — it’s a great way to showcase the types of skills employers find valuable.

Here are a few examples of community awards you might want to include on your resume:

• Volunteer awards
• Community service awards
• Philanthropy awards
• Civic leadership awards
• Humanitarian awards

Let’s see how this candidate represents their community awards on their resume:

Nontraditional awards

One last award to discuss — nontraditional awards and recognition are becoming more important. These may include digital badges and accolades from less formal sources.

For example, if you’ve received awards in less conventional settings, like hackathons, online competitions or community-driven projects, they can showcase your innovative spirit, technical skills and ability to engage with contemporary platforms and communities.

When listing these nontraditional awards, it’s essential to provide context. Briefly explain the award or recognition and why it’s significant in your industry. This will help potential employers understand the value and relevance of your nontraditional achievements.

Here’s what nontraditional awards might look like on your resume: