Victoria Cross vs ribbon

Victoria Cross and ribbon both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
Victoria Cross	Yes	No	No	No
ribbon	Yes	No	No	No

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

Victoria Cross: a British military decoration for gallantry
ribbon: an award for winning a championship or commemorating some other event

Other hypernyms of Victoria Cross include decoration, laurel wreath, medal, medallion, palm.

Victoria Cross (noun)	ribbon (noun)
a British military decoration for gallantry	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