Best recommendations for boosting troop morale using rewards/recognition?

We publicly recognized Soldiers who went above and beyond at close out formation with a coin and three day pass. Each week, each company would select the Soldier who had the greatest impact on a mission they had, and the Soldiers leader would bring them up in front of the BN, tell who they were and what they had done and the impact on the mission.
It might be a mechanic that worked late to get a mission critical piece of equipment up, or a PVT that came up with an innovation to speed up a project. Nothing fancy just a heart felt public thank you for doing well.

What the hell happened to giving Slodiers 'Letters of Commendation." I guess the coins replaced them. I wrote letters that went into their 201 File (Form 1) for all my subordinates that did an outhstand job during an FTX, training exercise or an outstanding presentation during an inspection. They didn't give out medals for doing a good job. You had to do something spectacular just to get an ARCOM. The Lletters had an impact on promotions. There is no reward which the prise is pay.

I had a BN CDR who carried a stack of custom printed 5x7s (ish) in his cargo pocket. One side was "pat on the back" the other was "kick in the @$$". Anytime he felt someone warranted either, he would stop on the spot and write it out and sign it, then present to the Soldier. It was worth ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, either way. Just let you know that the BC saw what you were doing, and thought it was worth recognizing, for good or ill. He gave out between 3 and 10 everyday, all ranks PVT through MAJ (The MAJs tended to get "kicked" more than "patted," PVTs got "patted" more than "kicked"). He still did coins, awards, and official memoranda as appropriate, but those little cards were just a little something extra. Things like a private having a great uniform or a SGT giving great PT. Not worthy of even a coin, really, but worthy of being noticed and encouraged. It was a GREAT idea, IMHO.