Awards and Recognition Program Updates

Awards and Recognition Program Updates2025-03-26T14:21:58-04:00
Creating Opportunities for FFA Members

As FFA membership grows in size and diversity, the National FFA award programs and competitive events must evolve to meet the needs of over one million members. Our goal is to provide opportunities for every FFA member to participate in national FFA programs that fit their needs and interests.

As FFA membership grows, the National FFA award programs and competitive events must evolve to meet the needs of over one million members. Our goal is to provide opportunities for every FFA member to participate in national programs that fit their needs and interests while aligning our programs with current industry standards to ensure our members’ experiences are relevant to current and future agricultural careers.
 
RECOGNIZING CLASSROOM, SAE AND FFA EXCELLENCE
We are reaching beyond awards and recognition at the National FFA Convention & Expo with new opportunities to showcase members and their achievements through awards, degrees and events for middle and high school students at all levels of FFA. Aligning our programs with SAE for All provides consistency between FFA programs and agricultural education initiatives and finding partnership opportunities with agriculture and industry events brings additional career relevance to our member’s experiences. Finally, migrating to appropriate modern technology to administer the award or event allows us to measure the member’s ability to use technologies relevant to modern agriculture.
 
ADDRESSING THE NEED FOR MORE MEMBER OPPORTUNITIES
In addition to keeping FFA awards and recognition programs relevant, we recognize the need for additional opportunities to showcase the skills FFA members learn in the classroom, through their SAE and their involvement in FFA. With this in mind, we have expanded to offer three types of events, including two new event types.
 
WHAT IS THE TIMELINE FOR UPDATES?
Information regarding updates to National FFA events and awards, endorsed activities and designated events will be released approximately two years before the implementation of program updates. Endorsed activities will be announced as they become available.
 
We appreciate your support and feedback as we strive to enhance our programs meaningfully and thoughtfully. Please email revisions@ffa.org with any questions or feedback.

2026 Program Documents

2027 Program Documents

Current Year Programming Information

2027 CDE and LDE Planning Guide – Coming soon

Do you have questions or want to give feedback? Contact revisions@ffa.org

Annual Updates
2026 Annual Program Announcement
2027 Annual Program Announcement
Awards and Recognition Timeline
Designated Events and Endorsed Activities

Kaitlyn Baker from Frederick, Maryland showing her Greenhand degree.
Kaitlyn Baker – Frederick Maryland – Greenhand

Kaitlyn Baker from Frederick, Maryland showing her Greenhand degree.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
UPDATE OVERVIEW

Addressing the Challenge
We are updating current awards and competitive events and creating new opportunities to showcase the skills members have learned in the classroom, through their SAE, and from their involvement in FFA. We are working on three event types.

National FFA Events and Awards
These are our national events and awards that take place at the National FFA Convention & Expo, where national winners are announced. We will update these events to ensure they remain relevant to the industry, our members and the agricultural education classroom.

National FFA Designated Events
These are our national events and awards where national winners are announced at the National FFA Convention & Expo. We will update these events to ensure they remain relevant to the industry, our members and the agricultural education classroom

National FFA Endorsed Activities
National FFA is partnering with other organizations to create a variety of National FFA Endorsed Activities. National FFA staff vets these opportunities to ensure their relevance and quality. These activities are not limited to FFA members, and recognition will not occur at the National FFA Convention & Expo and is at the discretion of the partner organization.

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