If after qualifying for an award/ribbon/medal you check your stats and they are not showing, their are a number of reasons why the awards do not show immediately, two of the most common are:

1. Were you playing on a ranked server?
2. Did you log out and then log back into the game? (quit the game completely)

Another way to update your stats on this forum is to use the 'Update playerstats now' link on the bottom of the global page when viewing your stats.

Also, some ranked servers can take several days to update your stats, please be patient.

In some cases, your stats are not updated (server crash as an example) and this will mean you will have to try and gain that award/medal/ribbon again.

We hope this explains why sometimes it takes a while to show what awards you've achieved.

Following the recent BFHQ stats not updating we contacted EA for a response, their reply:

Due to high traffic volume, stats may not be updated as quickly as desired and may not report correctly. Until then the stats and unlocks may not work sometimes, and may just be a little behind, but no worries as they will update eventually. If you have prolonged stat issues, you may have modified your profile through Gamespy's website or Gamespy Arcade, which can damage your BF2 account. If you have not done this, it may have become corrupted for other reasons that are undetermined, and you will have to create a new account. Thank you for your patience.