I am a figure skater myself and i have been since i was three! medals are awarded Gold, Silver, and bronze. If a skater places lower than third they will be awarded with a ribbon fourth, fifth , or sixth ribbon. normally competitions only give ribbons up to Sixth place but some competitions award up to eighth place ribbons. after sixth or eighth place (depending on the competition) the skater wont be awarded with anything. With Children that are very small like ages 1-4 other wise known as (canskaters) all get awarded with small trophies no matter what place they came in. They place Skaters by Jugding them on each of their elements basing them on Grace, Strength, Power, Landing, Entrance and so on. If the skater lacks in any of these elements they will have deductions and these will take off some of their points. After the final skater's performance, the judges will add up the points and place the skaters according who got the most points and the least!
Hope this helped!