Gift certificates

I see. In that case, I view this as a cost benefit trade off. How valuable do you think mentioning this extra "bonus" will be to your application? If you think it is highly valuable, then tack on a sentence or two explaining it in your optional essay. Personally, I don't think the adcom is going to put a lot of weight on it, so I would just lump it in with the bonus and be done with it. That one or two sentences could be used for something else (I know that your profile is somewhat complicated already, so why complicate it more?) or left out entirely. If you start adding extra details to your app that are of marginal value, I think you risk annoying the adcom.

I'm not trying to down play your accomplishment (nice job), but I think you should consider this piece of info. in the totality of your app. Is it going to be a difference maker in your candidacy? Given that you are high up the ladder already, I would say probably not.

OK - thanks sudden. I did need a third person perspective to this. While it did mean a lot to me when I got it, it probably doesn't mean much to the adcom. It's just that my awards/honors section is going to look empty, so I was wondering if I could do something about it.
The money itself doesn't matter to me much as much as the CEO telling me he valued the all-around contributions to the company, as compared to other gift certificates, which were just for performance on individual projects - part of why I did not want to tack it on to the bonus.

Actually, this would be the perfect sort of comment to go into a letter of recommendation. This will carry more weight anyway since the adcom will probably discount anything you say unless it is backed up by others.

That's a great idea! I will remind my manager of this certificate - to put in the recommendation.

Thank you, sudden. You have been a great help.