For ribbon judging? There aren't any rules that restrict us from giving the ribbons we think are appropriate. We don't need to award to three places (sometimes we just give a third or second, no first), or we can do more. We usually stick to three places, but not always. I suppose we could have bumped the third Fair Fred to third, but it was really nice too.
In green complex paphs we awarded two firsts, two seconds, and a third. But that was apples and oranges, since we had some very nice Maudiae types (old ones, like 'The Queen' and Claire de Lune 'Edgar Van Belle') in perfect condition, and some absolutely huge complex greens. In my mind at that point it is almost like dividing the class in half, awarding one set of ribbons to maudiae types and one to complex.
Yes, we are just pushing off the decision sometimes. When we go to award the best Paph trophy we would have to go back and look at all the firsts and might need to break the ties. That can be painful. But often, we don't have to worry about it, usually our trophy plant is in a class it clearly dominated.
Other shows might do it differently. Ribbon judging is really a function of the show, not the AOS. We go by the show rules. Most of the shows I judge follow the same basic ribbon rules, but I'm sure other regions do different things.
