TL;DR: DepEd rewrote its awards rules on June 4, 2026. DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 repealed DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016 and replaced the familiar With Honors, With High Honors and With Highest Honors tiers with a single Academic Excellence Award for Grades 4 to 12, given to learners with a General Average of at least 90 and no Final Grade below 80, listed alphabetically rather than ranked. Kindergarten to Grade 3 no longer receive academic awards at all, and get a Character Traits Award and a Certificate of Merit instead. There is no single prescribed DepEd certificate template: the order requires that certificates name the specific award and bear the official school or DepEd seal, and leaves the design to schools.
Search for "certificate of recognition DepEd" and most of what comes back describes rules that stopped being current in June 2026. This guide sets out which awards a public school may confer this school year, who decides, what the certificate itself is required to carry, and where practice legitimately varies between schools and divisions. It also covers the two procedural things families most often need: how to contest a result, and how to get a written certification of class rank for a college application.
Which DepEd Order Governs Awards Now?
DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026, "Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program," signed by Education Secretary Sonny Angara on June 4, 2026 and implemented from SY 2026-2027. Paragraph 6 repeals both DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015 and DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016, the awards and recognition policy that had governed school awards for a decade.
The old order has not vanished entirely: Annex H of the new order states that it adopts from relevant provisions of DO 36, s. 2016 to keep implementation fair, transparent and consistent. But the headline numbers changed, and any explainer, template or division reviewer still quoting 90-94, 95-97 and 98-100 as honour bands is quoting a repealed issuance. For the wider grading picture, see our guide to what the new grading order changed.
Disclaimer: awards practice is in a transition year, and schools have room to set their own criteria and rubrics through an Awards Committee. Confirm the specific criteria your school is using before assuming any threshold or title applies to your child.
What Is a Certificate of Recognition, Exactly?
It is not a single DepEd form. What the order requires is that awardees receive documentation of the specific award they won, and it is fairly precise about that: certificates, medals and plaques bear the official school or DepEd seal; certificates indicate the specific award and are prepared with attention to accuracy, proportion and completeness of details, including the date and venue of the awarding ceremony; and all major awards are accompanied by a gold medal, while other forms of recognition may be conferred through certificates or plaques.
The medal even has a specification: 6 centimetres in diameter, 30 grams in weight, with a 1-inch gold ribbon, bearing the DepEd seal. The certificate does not, which is why every school's looks different. If you were searching for a printable template, that is a school design decision rather than a national one, and this site does not host school forms or certificate files.
What Awards Exist in Kindergarten to Grade 3?
None of the academic kind. Because Key Stage 1 moved to descriptive grading, the order states that no academic awards shall be conferred there, and that progress is communicated through descriptive assessment and narrative feedback to avoid early competition and labelling.
| Key Stage 1 recognition | What it is |
|---|---|
| Character Traits Award | Given each term, recognising demonstrated values, positive learning behaviours, participation and growth. Limited to five core awards; teachers may contextualise the titles to suit their learners and community, provided they stay aligned with the DepEd core values |
| Certificate of Merit | Given at the end of the school year, reflecting the GMRC competency the learner most improved in or excelled at, worded so the learner can understand it |
| Perfect Attendance Award | For learners with no absences for the entire term, as reflected in School Form 2, the daily attendance record |
Grades 2 and 3 are a special case during the transition. Because they are still on numeric grading for now, the order allows schools to give them Academic Excellence Awards and other applicable grade-level awards.
What Awards Exist in Grades 4 to 12?
The centrepiece is the Academic Excellence Award: a General Average of at least 90, no Final Grade below 80 in any learning area, and no derogatory records or disciplinary cases within the school year. Awardees are listed alphabetically, which the order frames as a way to promote fairness and minimise undue competition.
| Award | Who it is for |
|---|---|
| Academic Excellence Award | Grades 4-12, GA of at least 90 with no Final Grade below 80 |
| Leadership Excellence Award | Learner leaders or officers showing initiative, responsibility, cooperation and positive influence, with no derogatory records |
| Excellence in a Specific Discipline or Learning Area | Final Grade of 90 or higher and the highest grade in the batch in that area; ties are all recognised |
| Excellence in Work Immersion, Field Exposure, Arts Apprenticeship | Grade 12 learners with the highest grade in the area, endorsed by the industry partner or supervisor |
| Excellence in Research | Grade 12 learners, individually or in groups of up to four, scored on the research grade, usefulness, rigour, and presentation and defence |
| Excellence in Design and Innovation | Grade 12 learners who took Design and Innovation 1 and 2, scored on significance, originality, feasibility, and demonstration |
| Special Recognition | Learners who bring honour to the school through competitions, contests or exhibitions at division, regional, national or international level |
Schools may also give additional recognition to learners who contribute to the school's standing, and certificates, medals or trophies won outside may be publicly acknowledged at flag ceremonies or recognition programmes. Awards sponsored by external partners are regulated by the school, must align with DepEd's vision, mission and core values, and must be named after the trait, value or achievement recognised, or after an esteemed person who is deceased.
Who Decides, and on What Evidence?
Each school organises an Awards Committee at the start of the school year for each grade level, at least three qualified teaching staff including a guidance counsellor or designated teacher, always an odd number, with no member related within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity to any candidate. Small schools may organise just one committee.
The order also fixes a calendar and an evidence rule that families can hold a school to:
- Criteria, timelines and processes are approved by the school head and communicated to learners, parents and stakeholders during the opening period or not later than the end of Term 1.
- Class advisers or club moderators endorse nominees around the middle of Term 3, and the committee validates submitted documents and portfolios.
- Deliberation and the announcement of awardees fall at the end of Term 3, observing data privacy provisions.
- For the Academic Excellence Award, the committee uses SF9, the report card, and SF10, the permanent academic record, as primary references; other awards rely on verified portfolios of certificates, awards, reports and evidence.
- The school head approves the final list, and inhibits from the process if related within the second degree to a candidate.
Two practical consequences follow. If a school has not told you its criteria by the end of Term 1, that is a departure from the order worth raising. And because SF9 and SF10 are the primary references, a discrepancy on the report card is worth fixing early rather than at deliberation time. Transfer cases have their own wrinkles, covered in our guide to honours for transferees.
How Do You Contest an Award Result?
Annex H sets a short, specific window. The learner, together with a parent or guardian, files a protest with the school head within five working days from the announcement of awardees. The school head acts on it within two working days of filing, taking the Awards Committee recommendations into account, and all actions taken are documented.
Separately, and often more useful for Grade 12 families, the order provides that schools may issue a certification of actual academic rank upon formal written request, to support college applications or other academic requirements. That is the document to ask for when a university application form asks for class standing that no longer appears on the certificate itself. If you are assembling application requirements, our guides to graduation requirements and clearance and to Latin honours at college level cover what comes next.
Ready to find the right school? Browse schools or compare tuition and reviews across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.
Sources
- DepEd Order No. 015, s. 2026 - Revised Guidelines on Classroom Assessment, Grading System, and Awards and Recognition
- DepEd Order No. 36, s. 2016 - Policy Guidelines on Awards and Recognition for the K to 12 Basic Education Program (repealed by DO 015, s. 2026)
- DepEd Order No. 58, s. 2017 - Adoption of New School Forms for Kindergarten, SHS, ALS, Health and Nutrition, and Standardization of Permanent Records
- SchoolFinderPH - DepEd New Grading System Under MATATAG
- SchoolFinderPH - SF9 Report Card Guide
- SchoolFinderPH - Honors for Transferees
- SchoolFinderPH - Graduation Requirements and Clearance
