Also, since NHC is a big competition - the winners were very likely chosen during a mini Best of Show round. During these rounds, judges taste the best beers in a category from different flights and pick the top three to get ribbons. They are actually prohibited from seeing previous scores during this process, since they want the judging to be based on current preception, not notes from a previous tasting. So if it went to BOS, you can be reassured that a lower score didn't ruin your chances. Although this doesn't apply to the certificates.