Guide
Certificates and letters for a whole group: four ways to do it
There are four sensible ways to give everyone in a class, team or group a personal award certificate or letter: write each one yourself, start from a template, ask a general chatbot, or use learnerborn. Which one fits depends on how many people you have, how much time you have, and what you want at the end: a printed set for everyone, or one good note. Here is what each way gives you, and when we would tell you not to use learnerborn.
By Scott Mackley, founder of learnerborn · Updated
What learnerborn gives you that the others don't
Each of these is something the product does today. See how it works and real examples with the notes beside them.
Certificates, letters or both, each on its own
Order award certificates, personal letters or both. Each is its own product with its own price, so you only pay for what you want.
Written from a few quick notes
Add a few notes about each person, typed or spoken, and the certificate or letter is written from only what you said. Prefer to write the letter in your own words? We only tidy the punctuation and paragraphs.
An award title for each person
Each certificate gets a title made from that person's own moment, like “The Keep-Rewriting-Until-It-Works Award”, and never a ranking like “Most Improved”. Titles from a template are the same for everyone.
The whole group in one go
Type, paste or upload a list of first names (1 to 500 people), pick the occasion, a design and your group's colors and logo, and every person gets their own. A template makes you fill each one in by hand.
Say it, don't type it
Tap to talk and say what you noticed the way you would tell a friend. Your words appear as text you can fix before anything is written.
A voice that fits
Warm for children and families, plain and sincere in a manager's voice for staff and volunteers. A short note makes a short letter, and nothing is added that you did not say.
Ready to print
Print-ready PDFs on US Letter pages: certificates lie wide, letters stand tall, with the paper to use. A chatbot gives you text, and you still build the page.
You stay in charge
Review each one, change anything, ask for a fresh version, and nothing is final until you approve it. Email each one to the family straight from the app.
Thank the leader from the whole group
One person sets it up and every name in the group signs it, up to 200 names, for a certificate, a letter or both to a coach, teacher or boss. Neither a template nor a chatbot gathers a group's signatures.
Light on privacy, and a clear price
First names are all it needs. Last names are optional, stay on your device and are never saved. No account and no password, and everything is deleted 30 days after your order is finished. You pay per person, with no subscription, and see your total before you pay.
The four ways side by side
The template and chatbot columns describe how each is normally used, not any one product.
| You write each one | A template | A general chatbot | learnerborn | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written from your notes | Yes, entirely in your own words | You write the personal part | Yes, with rules you set yourself | Yes, from only what you said |
| Whole group at once | No, one at a time | No, fill each one in | Possible in batches, but you check and lay out each | Yes, up to 500 names |
| Print-ready pages | You build them | Yes | You build them | Yes, PDFs for every person |
| Speak your notes | Not applicable | No | Some apps | Yes, then fix the text |
| Award title for each person | You make them up | Often the same for everyone | Whatever you ask for | Made from each person's own moment, never a ranking |
| A thank-you signed by the whole group | No | No | No | Yes, up to 200 names |
| Rules set for this job | Your judgment | None | You write them, test them and repeat them | Built in: only what you said, a voice matched to the age |
| Your time for 25 people | Longest | Medium | Medium, plus building the pages | About a minute a person |
| Cost | Your evenings | Free to low | Free to a monthly plan | Pay per person, no subscription |
See pricing for what learnerborn costs per person.
Write each one yourself
Still the best way for a very small group, or when the letter should be entirely in your voice. The cost is time, and the usual result is that the last ten letters are shorter than the first ten. With fewer than about eight people, you probably don't need a tool. The free fill-in templates on our occasion pages will get you started, such as the one in how to write a letter to every student.
Use a template
A template gives you a good layout and the wording around the blank. You still write the personal part for every person, which is where the time goes. Templates suit a group that all gets the same certificate, such as participation awards. Free Word and PDF templates are on our occasion pages, and 336 award title ideas will fill the blank.
Ask a general chatbot
A chatbot can draft a letter from a note, and it is flexible for all kinds of writing. For this job it leaves the work around the words to you. You paste in one person at a time, set the rules yourself (what to leave out, how warm, how long), copy each result into a document and lay out the page. Left to its own rules it may add effort or feelings you never mentioned, or give “Most Improved”, which ranks a child. If you like that way of working, give it real notes and read every draft.
Use learnerborn
You add a sentence or two about each person, typed or spoken. learnerborn writes a certificate with a title that is theirs alone, a letter in your voice, or both, using only what you said. You review each one, change anything, approve it and print. About a minute per person, start to finish.
When learnerborn is not worth it
We would rather say so than have you pay for something you don't need.
- You have only a few people and want to write each one in your own words.
- Everyone gets the same certificate and no personal note is needed.
- You enjoy writing them and have the time.
- You want a pre-written message with no notes from you. learnerborn only writes from what you tell it.
What the research says
Studies found that praise lands when it names what a person did, and that people underestimate how much a thank-you means to the person who gets it. We did not find a trial that tested a printed personal letter to a child against no letter, and we say so on the research page.
Something personal for everyone, from a few quick notes.
Start with first names and a few notes. You'll have an award certificate, a letter or both for each person, ready to review and print.
Certificates from $3, letters from $6 each for groups of 16 or more.