25% of the entries in a category win ribbons. They are distributed as Blue (top 5%), Red (next 5%), White (next 5%) and Yellow (next 10%). It can get confusing, especially when there are ties for scores that cause overlap. So here’s an example and another explanation at the end:

• 27 total images (25% wins a ribbon, which is 6.75 rounded up to 7 total):
• 5% Blue (1.35 ribbons, rounds down to 1). There were three with the same top score, so at this point 3 total ribbons awarded. 2 eaten into the next set of ribbons.
• 5% Red (1.35 ribbons, rounds down to 1) — so top 10% wins Blue or Red (2.7 total ribbons, rounds up to 3 total, 3 already filled by Blue, 0 remaining for Red). At this point still, 3 total ribbons awarded, but none of them are Red.
• 5% White (1.35 ribbons, rounds down to 1) — so top 15% wins Blue, Red, or White (4.05 total ribbons, rounds down to 4 total. 3 already filled by Blue (3) and Red (0) winners, so 1 remaining for white). Since two had the same score for 4th place, they both got white. At this point, 5 total ribbons awarded. 1 eaten into the Yellow ribbons.
• 10% Yellow (2.7 total ribbons, rounds up to 3) — but only top 25% wins a ribbon (6.7 total ribbons, rounds up to 7 total, 5 already awarded, so only 2 remaining for Yellow). All 7 ribbons now awarded.

It can seem confusing when score ties occur, but think of it this way — if the Phillies and Marlins were tied for first place with 95-67 records, and the Mets had a 93-69 record, would the Mets be in second place or third place? Just because the two teams above them had the same record, it doesn’t change the fact that they have the third-best record, so they are still in third place.

You also may notice at times that a color or two may not even be represented in a category. The reason for this is because many images can tie, causing enough of an overrun into the next color so that no ribbons for that color would fit. For example, if 10% fill up Blue due to numerous images with the same score filling the bottom of that color, there may be nothing remaining to get a Red ribbon. So after 10% or more already get assigned to Blue due to several ties (so they all deserved Blue), there would be nothing left that gets Red, and White would get the 11th% through the 15th%.