Who to Invite - At the very least you want to invite all those that have competed for the awards. Don't forget those support staff that helped the winners perform at levels necessary to win. These could be direct support staff in the same department(s) as the award ceremony is about. It also could be supporting departments such as a marketing department at a sales award ceremony. The support also comes at home, don't forget spouses. Remember, the ceremony is not only about the winners, it can be very motivational to others who have competed and those that work hard in support. Think about inviting your key clients. There's at least four reasons for this: first, it's is a great honor to receive an award in front of your clients; second, clients feel good about their supplier who rewards their employees and feels good about their relationship with your company; third, clients can be asked to say a few words of support which makes everyone feel great; lastly, it adds to building a the relationship between your client and your company.
Where - The best place for a ceremony varies widely. A few things to consider include the economic environment, whether the ceremony is part of a larger company event, the significance of the performance results to the company, and will clients be there. During a down economy you want to be careful the event doesn't appear too expensive. The ceremony will quickly become a conversation piece for those not invited, especially if budgets have been significantly cut or layoffs have occurred or is rumored. If clients are invited it should be an appropriate place to entertain clients, however, clients may also be sensitive to what appears to them to be lavish spending (at their expense).
Award, Trophy or Prize Categories - This is a larger topic for a later time, however, there are few things to add here. I urged you to remember to invite those that supported the performance results that's the center of attention. It is even more motivating to the support staff to be included in the awards. There are always goals for support staff that aides reaching goals in sales, safety, manufacturing, etc. Keep the number of award categories reasonable. If everyone gets an award, it loses it's importance. I have seen award ceremonies that took 4 or more hours to give out the awards. Management was afraid of leaving someone out or offending employees. You do run the risk of offending employees if you downplay the importance of awards. You don't want to make an award into a joke (yes, I've seen it happen).
Speeches - This can be a sensitive subject. I'll address it head on. I have seen all the money and time spent to put the ceremony on result in reduced employee motivation because of something said that the audience felt was offensive or not appropriate. A bad joke can be forgiven, but a manager who makes the ceremony about themselves or even about products, visions, plans or other management, may all be important, but not for this ceremony. If at all possible, coach management who will speak at the event. It has to be done with a great deal of sensitivity and tact, but you likely know who needs some coaching and who doesn't. Another difficult subject that you will find a little easier to openly address and get support on is length of presentations. Employees in a company ceremony will be much more tolerant of lengthy presentations than members of a non-profit at an organization's ceremony. Yet. you still need to manage time and appropriate lengths given the importance of the award. A good example is a third place award that has a speech twice as long as the first place award. You don't want to de motivate the first place winner! The last thing about speeches, is to not over-produce. I mean by that, too much preparation breeds formality and stiffness. The speeches that are the most memorable are those that are from the heart. Tears of joy are never forgotten! Management should do their homework on the individuals receiving them.
A few more words about "from the heart". I once worked for a CEO of a company of 800 employees. He wrote a personal note to every employee at the holiday season. It was always personal. At our award ceremonies there was never a dry eye in the audience when he spoke. It was never about him or the company. It was always about the people. The people as individuals, families, teams within the company and all of us as a company family. I remember many details of events that happened 25 and 30 years ago. He certainly made an impression.
Award Text - Keep it simple! Highlight the individuals name, the name of the award and the performance results if you want it to appear on the award. If there is more you want to say, a great way of doing this is in the speech and with an accompanying letter signed by the highest level manager you can get. Remember, white space highlights the text that is there. Fewer words creates the highlighting that is important.