In some state and county fairs, horse shows, agricultural shows, school competitions, dog shows, sports, hobbies, and a handful of other circumstances, winners are often awarded a blue ribbon. 

It’s become a very standard practice, but where did this tradition come from? 

THE HISTORY BEHIND THE WINNING BLUE RIBBON

Like a lot of modern traditions, the story of this particular custom is a long and somewhat confusing one. Popular history often claims that blue ribbons and rosettes first became associated with first-place performances and prizes in the late 19th century, when the so-called “Blue Riband” prize was introduced among shipping companies vying for the fastest recorded liner crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. But although that contest certainly may have helped to establish the idea of a prize-worthy blue ribbon in popular culture, from where it gradually filtered down into the school science fairs and farm shows of today, it wasn’t the shipping magnates of the Victorian era who came up with it. 

In fact, by the time the Blue Riband competition was being hotly contested in the late 1800s and early 1900s, blue ribbons had already long been established as first-place prizes—in particular in British horse racing, equestrian, and agricultural competitions—and it is likely from there that the shipping contest took its own first-place blue ribbon toward the turn of the century. The reason why those equestrian contests in turn used as blue ribbon, ultimately, leads us even further back into British and European history. 

BRITISH AND EUROPEAN ORIGINS

The British Order of the Garter is the oldest, most senior, and most esteemed order of chivalry in the United Kingdom, established by King Edward III way back in the 1340s. Supposedly inspired by tales of bands of heroic knights and courtly fighters, King Edward simply decided to establish his own high-ranking group of honoured knights almost seven centuries ago, and the order has scarcely changed since—with the monarch still today acting as the head of a select group of just 24 individuals or “companions,” all of whom have typically been selected in light of their personal service of the monarch, or their excellence in public office or national life. The current Order, in fact, includes the former prime ministers John Major and Tony Blair, the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the historian and academic Peter Hennessey. (Curiously, as of the summer of 2026, the Order currently only has 23 members, with the twenty-fourth place currently vacant following the death of the Lord Lieutenant of Hereford and Worcester, Sir Thomas Dunne, in 2025.) 

The order’s unusual name is popularly said to derive from an incident in the life of Edward III when a garter happened to fall from the leg of the Countess of Salisbury, with whom the king was dancing at a royal ball. Not wanting the countess to be embarrassed, the king swiftly picked up the garter, put it on his own leg, and exclaimed in French, “Honi soit qui mal y pense”—or roughly, “Shame on him who thinks ill of it.” 

Those words ultimately became the motto of the king’s Order, and have remained so ever since—while a ceremonial blue garter or armband, blue robes, sash, and an ornate blue rosette have long been part of the order’s insignia, and worn on all its formal occasions.  

A CENTURIES-LONG TRADITION

So do we really hand out blue rosettes because of the color of the Countess of Salisbury’s medieval undergarments? Well, not quite. Perhaps understandably, it seems the tale of the countess’ wardrobe malfunction is likely apocryphal, and a far more plausible theory is that the king chose blue as the Order of the Garter’s color to reinforce his claim at the time to the throne of France, mirroring the blue and gold of the French coat of arms. No matter how or why he chose blue, however, it appears to be this long-held and centuries-old organization that helped to establish the notion of a blue ribbon as a symbol of prestige. 

More historical traditions: