Award Maven Named One of PPAI's 2026 Greatest Companies to Work For

In August, PPAI, the promotional products industry's trade association, named Award Maven one of its 2026 Greatest Companies to Work For in branded merchandise. We are listed among the Top Small Companies, for teams of 10 to 25 people.

How the list is chosen

This is an award a company cannot write for itself. Employees nominate their own company, and PPAI then sends a 15-question survey directly to every person on that company's roster. The survey asks people to rate their workplace on benefits, culture and leadership, and a company only qualifies if enough of its team responds.

For 2026, PPAI recognized 138 companies across the industry, from six-person shops to organizations with close to 1,000 employees. In PPAI's write-up, about three out of four winning companies named work/life balance as one of their employees' top three reasons for staying, followed closely by trust in leadership and feeling heard.

In Carmen's words

When the list came out, our founder, Carmen Elise, wrote: "When I decided to scale Award Maven, my goal was to build a place where high achievers could discover what they're truly capable of when they have the right support behind them."

"Too many talented people are held back by micromanagement, red tape, and environments that limit initiative. I'm proud of the culture and leadership we've built at Award Maven, one that empowers people to take ownership, grow, and do meaningful work. This recognition belongs to our entire team."

She also noted the words our team used to describe working here: "unicorn," "supportive," "innovative" and "a dream to work for."

Why it matters to the people we work with

We make the awards, service gifts and branded products that other companies use to recognize their own people. It means a lot that our team, asked directly by PPAI, says they feel recognized too.

It also matters for every order. The account executives and operations team behind this recognition are the same people who plan your project, check your proofs and see your order through to delivery. A team that likes where it works tends to take care of the details.

More from Award Maven

This month, PPAI also named Carmen one of its 12 Rising Stars for 2026. Read about Carmen's Rising Star recognition.

Thank you to every Maven who took the survey, and congratulations to the other 137 companies on this year's list.

Meet the Award Maven team or read more about us.