Fair Open Class Awards - Floral, Quilt, Car & Animal Shows

Walk past the livestock barns at any county fair and you'll find the competitions that fill the rest of the fairgrounds: the floral hall lined with dahlias and zinnias, quilts hung in careful rows, classic cars parked hood-up along the midway, and rabbit and poultry barns full of exhibitors waiting on a judge. These departments draw hundreds of entries, and every one of them needs an award. So what are fair open class awards?

This blog covers how to plan fair open class awards for floral, quilt, car, and small animal shows: what each department typically awards, how quantities differ from the livestock barn, and when to order so everything arrives sorted and ready for judging day. It's written for fair boards, department superintendents, and 4-H coordinators building their awards list for summer and fall fairs.

What Counts as Fair Open Class Awards at a County Fair?

Open class is the division of a county fair that any community member can enter, regardless of age or 4-H membership, covering departments like flowers, quilts, baked goods, canning, fine arts, and photography. Unlike 4-H divisions, which are limited to enrolled youth, open class is where the whole county competes.

Fair open class awards are given to exhibits and are usually judged under the American system, meaning entries in each class compete against each other for a single first, second, and third placing, though many open class fairs award ribbons through fifth place or deeper. That's the opposite of the Danish system used in most 4-H judging, where every exhibit that meets the standard earns a ribbon. If your fair runs both divisions, your premium book should say which system applies where, and your ribbon order needs to reflect both.

Typical fair open class awards structure looks like this:

• Departments — the big categories: Floral, Home Arts, Culinary, Photography, Small Animals
• Divisions — groupings inside a department, such as hand-quilted vs. machine-quilted
• Classes — the individual contests, like “single dahlia bloom” or “baby quilt, pieced”, each class gets its own set of placing ribbons

What Awards Do Floral Hall and Quilt Shows Need?

Floral halls and quilt shows need placing ribbons for every class, plus rosettes for department-level honors: Best of Show, Grand Champion, Reserve Champion, and often Judge's Choice or Viewer's Choice. Placing ribbons do the everyday work; rosettes mark the entries visitors line up to photograph.

A floral hall is the exhibit building where a fair displays its non-livestock entries, flowers, produce, baked goods, quilts, and handwork, and at many fairs it's the most-visited building on the grounds. One major County Fair in Kentucky announced its 2026 floral hall grand champions this June across flowers, baked foods, and quilts, a reminder that these departments generate real news coverage and community pride for a fair.

Quilt shows deserve particular attention because entries are judged on fine workmanship, piecing, stitching, binding, and exhibitors are often the most experienced competitors at the fair. Award planning notes for these departments:

• Hanging display matters. Rosettes with streamers show beautifully against hung quilts and flower tables, plan for pinned or clip-mounted display.
• Specialty rosettes for Best of Show, Judge's Choice, and Viewer's Choice give sponsors a natural award to attach their name to.
• Section champions — many fairs name a champion per division (e.g., hand-quilted and machine-quilted) before naming an overall grand champion.

Hodges Badge has printed placing ribbons and champion rosettes for fair exhibit halls at its U.S. facilities since 1920, with custom printed streamers that can carry your fair's name, year, classes, divisions and department.

What Awards Does a Fair Car Show Need?

A fair car show needs three award layers: a dash plaque for every registered entrant, class awards for each judged category, and specialty awards like Best of Show, Best Paint, and Oldest Car. Registration counts drive the plaques; your class list drives everything else.

A dash plaque is a small commemorative plate given to every registered car show participant, traditionally displayed on the vehicle's dashboard during the event and collected by owners afterward. Established shows plan these by expected registration, and provides dash plaques to its entries and awards two trophies in each of its 22 judged classes, plus Best of Show, Oldest Car, and special awards.

Popular specialty categories to include alongside your judged classes:

• Best of Show — the marquee award, worth a large rosette or trophy that photographs well beside the winning car
• Judged superlatives — Best Paint, Best Interior, Best Engine, Most Original, Best Custom
• Crowd-pleasers — People's Choice (spectator ballots), Longest Distance Traveled, Club Participation

Rosettes and specialty award ribbons work especially well for fair car shows because streamers can be printed with the fair name, year, and category, and they display on mirrors and grilles without the storage bulk of trophies. Car shows also pair naturally with the rest of the fair's award order, so the same shipment covers the floral hall and the show field.

How Do Small Animal Shows Award Ribbons?

Rabbit, poultry, and cavy shows award placing ribbons by class, plus champion and reserve champion rosettes per species, and showmanship awards that recognize the exhibitor's handling skill rather than the animal. Most run as 4-H divisions judged under the Danish system, so every exhibitor takes home a ribbon.

Small animal shows are often the busiest single day on a fair's youth schedule, with species judged back-to-back and a showmanship final to close. A Small Animal Round Robin is a showmanship contest where top exhibitors handle every species in rotation, rabbit, poultry, cavy, and others, to crown an overall showmanship champion.

Award planning for the small animal barn:

• Danish-color ribbons (purple, blue, red, white) for 4-H project judging, quantities based on total entries
• Champion and reserve rosettes per species, and often per age division (junior/senior)
• Showmanship awards rosettes or medals for each species, plus a standout award for the Round Robin winner
• Participation ribbons for cloverbud and novice exhibitors

Because these are youth divisions, the ribbon is often a first-ever award, worth getting right. As a family-owned business, Hodges Badge understands what these ribbons mean on a kid's bedroom wall, and its customer service team helps 4-H coordinators sort out species-by-species quantities every summer, call or email and a real person works through your fair book with you.

How Many Fair Open Class Awards Should You Order for Each Department?

Order American-system placing ribbons based on your class count and placing depth, Danish-system ribbons based on total expected entries, dash plaques based on car show registration caps, and one rosette for each named honor in your premium book. Open class departments often have far more classes than the livestock barn.

The working method:

1. Count classes per department from your premium book , every class needs its ladder of placing ribbons (through 3rd, 5th, or deeper, per your rules).
2. Pull last year's entry totals for Danish-judged youth divisions, every entry receives a ribbon.
3. Set your car show numbers , dash plaques to match your registration cap, two awards per judged class if you award first and second, plus each specialty category.
4. List every named honor: Best of Show, Grand and Reserve Champion, Judge's Choice, People's Choice, section champions, showmanship, Round Robin.
5. Match award to display, rosettes for hung and tabled exhibits, ribbons with card space for cage tags, photogenic oversized awards for Best of Show winners.
6. Add a cushion for day-of entries and judging-day surprises.

Hodges Badge Company is a family-owned, American manufacturer of award ribbons, rosettes, medals, and recognition products. Founded in 1920 and based in the United States, Hodges Badge has supplied custom awards to county fairs, 4-H programs, equestrian shows, schools, and corporations for over 100 years, including complete open class orders that cover every department in one shipment.

When Should You Order Open Class Fair Awards?

Order open class fair awards at least 7- 12 working days before your fair opens, and earlier for custom-printed streamers or specialty rosettes. Fairs running in late July and August, are inside that window now, and Labor Day fairs should finalize orders by early August.

Some larger fairs plan much further out, setting its 2026 competition entry deadline back in February, months before opening day. Wherever your fair falls on that spectrum, two options protect a tight timeline:

• Stock quick-ship ribbons and rosettes in standard placing and Danish colors ship fast because they're pre-printed and ready to ship. 
• U.S. manufacturing keeps delivery on domestic schedules, Hodges Badge produces its ribbons and rosettes in the United States, with no overseas transit time.

And if your awards list extends beyond ribbons, medals for the Round Robin, plaques for retiring superintendents, engraved pieces for longtime volunteers, Hodges produces those alongside the ribbons and rosettes, so one order covers the whole fair.

The floral hall, the quilt rows, the show field, and the rabbit barn are where a county fair's community shows up. Plan those open class fair awards with the same care as the livestock champions, and every exhibitor, first-time or fiftieth, leaves with something worth keeping.

Ready to build your fair open class awards order? Browse our entire line of fair, festival, and 4-H awards or call us today to speak with one of our customer service specialists.