Bronze Star vs ribbon

Bronze Star and ribbon both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
Bronze Star	Yes	No	No	No
ribbon	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, ribbon is a hypernym of Bronze Star; that is, ribbon is a word with a broader meaning than Bronze Star:

Bronze Star: a United States military decoration awarded for meritorious service (except in aerial flight)
ribbon: an award for winning a championship or commemorating some other event

Other hypernyms of Bronze Star include decoration, laurel wreath, medal, medallion, palm.

Bronze Star (noun)	ribbon (noun)
a United States military decoration awarded for meritorious service (except in aerial flight)	notion consisting of a narrow strip of fine material used for trimming
	a long strip of inked material for making characters on paper with a typewriter
	an award for winning a championship or commemorating some other event
	any long object resembling a thin line