How to create and assign certificates in Evalato

Certificates lets you upload a winner certificate template once and have it automatically populated with each entrant's own details — no manual editing per winner. You upload a background design, add placeholders for the entry data you want to display, then assign the certificate to the entries you want via awards.

Every entry carrying the award or awards you have selected becomes eligible for that specific certificate, and each entrant can download their personalized copy from the Applicant portal.

Create a certificate

Go to Winners > Certificates.
Click Create new.
Enter a Name for the certificate and click Create. This opens the Certificate builder.

Set up the certificate

In the Certificate builder, the Certificate settings panel on the right controls the certificate as a whole:

Name – the internal name of the certificate.
Awards – select the award or awards this certificate is issued for. Any entry holding one of the selected awards is eligible for this certificate. If you leave this empty, the certificate is saved but issued to nobody — you can come back and select an award once you're ready.
Tags (optional) — Use this to narrow things down further: only award holders that also carry one of the selected tags will get the certificate.

Format — choose the certificate's paper size and orientation: A4 or US Letter, portrait or landscape.

Background – upload the certificate design you've prepared. Recommended size is A4 portrait (2480×3507px), max 8MB, and supported formats include .png, .jpg, .webp, and .heic/heif. Drag and drop the file or click to upload.

Add placeholders for entrant data

Placeholders are the dynamic fields that get filled in automatically for each entrant. Once your background is uploaded:

In the Placeholders section, click Add placeholder.
Under Content > Value source, choose what the placeholder should pull from:

Entry name
Category
Form field – pull from any specific field on your entry form. Selecting this reveals a Form field dropdown listing every entry form field available. You can leave it blank and pick the field later — the placeholder box just stays empty on the certificate until you do.

Optionally add Sample text — a preview shown on the canvas while you design. Leave it blank to preview the real value instead.
On the canvas, drag the placeholder box to position it over your certificate design, and use the corner handle to resize it.

Style each placeholder

Each placeholder has its own styling controls:

Font – family, size, weight, and style (normal or italic).
Text – color, text transform (none or uppercase), and alignment (left, center, right).
Letter spacing and Line height.
Position & size – max lines, width, and exact X/Y coordinates, if you want to fine-tune beyond dragging on the canvas.

Add as many placeholders as your certificate needs — repeat the steps above for each one. To remove a placeholder, open it and click Delete placeholder.

Save the certificate

Click Save in the top-right corner once your design and placeholders are set. You can come back and edit a certificate at any time from the Certificates list.

Making certificates available to entrants

Whether a certificate is available depends on that award's Visibility setting, found in Winners > Awards > Edit award:

Hidden – the award isn't announced anywhere. No certificate is issued for it even if the entry has been assigned the award.
Private – winners can see the award in their Applicant portal and download their certificate there.
Public – the award and its certificate are visible everywhere, including open lists.

To assign an award to specific entries, go to Registrations > Entries, select the entries you want to award, and click Set awards. This is also where you'll find a Manage awards shortcut if you need to create or edit an award without leaving the Entries page.