Overview      
The Virginia State Star Awards represent the best of the best among nearly 200 State FFA Degree recipients. Finalists for the award have mastered skills in production, finance, management and/or research.

Virginia Star Award Areas      
Virginia State Star Farmer
The FFA member with the top production agriculture SAE program each year is recognized as the Virginia Star Farmer. Six state finalists (one from each area) vie for the star award. Considered the highest recognition in the state for an aspiring young farmer, the award recognizes achievement in both career and leadership development. 

Virginia State Star in Agribusiness
Each year one member with the best non-production entrepreneurial agribusiness SAE and proven leadership skills is selected to be the Virginia Star in Agribusiness. Six state finalists (one from each area) compete for this prestigious award, the highest achievement for a person pursuing a career in agribusiness.

Virginia State Star in Agricultural Placement
One member with the best placement SAE program and proven leadership skills is selected to be the Virginia Star in Agricultural Placement. The member’s placement experience can include paid labor hours or directed laboratory unpaid labor hours.

Virginia State Star in Agriscience
The State Star in Agriscience winner will have an SAE program in which the student is actively engaged in agriscience research and experimentation. This includes students who are actively engaged in doing their own research individually, as well as those students who may be cooperating on research projects with others including but not limited to teams in school, experiment stations or colleges/universities. The hypothesis may be formulated by the student or provided to them by a co-researcher. The students must be actively involved in the development of the experimental design, collection of data, interpretation of the data and publicizing the results to be considered as a Virginia Star in Agriscience. Their program could be an entrepreneurship or placement type program. The placement type program does not have to be paid hours, but the member must have met the minimum requirements for the State FFA Degree.

Qualifications      
FFA members who have earned their State FFA Degrees are eligible for the State Star Awards.

Virginia FFA State Degree must be earned the same year that a candidate is applying for a Star Award.

Local FFA chapters nominate State Star Award candidates based on the quality of their State FFA Degree and Star Battery applications.