General Projects are judged using two different systems.

Danish Ribbon System: First the judge will determine the project’s Danish award. There is no magic formula for the number of blue, red or white ribbons to be given. Quality measured against product standards and fulfillment of exhibit requirements determine the rankings. These are sometimes referred to as work awards. A summary of the standards for each ribbon is:

• BLUE: Meets or exceeds product standards and meets exhibit requirements; overall, the work is of high quality.
• RED: Meets minimum product standards and exhibit requirements; overall, the work is of average quality. Projects assigned Red may not place above 3rd.
• WHITE: Serious or considerable deficiencies in meeting product standards and/or exhibit requirements. Projects assigned White may not place above 5th.
• The most common problems that cause lower ribbons are missing 4-H story, missing captioned photos, missing the manual (if required), and using the wrong size display board. Another common problem is not including everything listed in the Project Requirements.

American Ribbon System: Once the Danish award is decided, the judge will place projects using the American system. This is a rank-order system in which exhibits are placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. While the American system uses product standards and fulfillment of exhibit requirements, it also uses the idea of competition among exhibitors to establish the rankings. Each class is ranked separately.

Place Ranking – A place ranking ribbon indicates the project’s ranking within its class. The first-place project in each class can be promoted to state fair.

Champion – A Champion ribbon means that the project was the top project in its Unit and Age Group. A Reserve Champion ribbon means that the project was the 2nd top project in its Unit and Age Group.

Grand Champion – A Grand Champion ribbon means that the project was the top project across all units of the project for its Age Group. A Reserve Grand Champion ribbon means the project was the 2nd top project across all units of the project for its Age Group.