A blue ribbon is a prize awarded to the winner of a competition, traditionally a strip of blue fabric but now often a rosette or badge. At county fairs, blue ribbons go to the best pies, the biggest pumpkins, or the finest livestock. At a school science fair, the blue ribbon project is the one the judges considered the most impressive.

When people describe something as blue ribbon, they mean it's the very best of its kind. A restaurant might serve blue ribbon fried chicken, meaning it's outstanding quality. A blue ribbon panel is a group of especially qualified experts chosen to study an important problem. The phrase suggests excellence and careful selection: the kind of work that stands above the rest.

The opposite feeling shows up in the phrase won't win any blue ribbons, meaning something is mediocre or disappointing. Your bedroom cleaning job won't win any blue ribbons if you just shoved everything under the bed; it might look tidy, but it isn't really clean.