OP here. I saw this got bumped back up. DD did apply ED to UVA but we decided that she would not pursue Jefferson. We felt it was a lot of work for very low odds (and DD seems “out of gas” application-wise) and we didn’t want to take the opportunity from another student at the school. Since we oversaved for college in case she went private/OOS, in-state tuition would be very affordable for us.

I am sure that some FCPS schools allow students to self-nominate themselves and that at some schools the number of kids who self-nominate is large enough (70+) that they just draw a name. Then that kid whose name got drawn completes the application. It might not be a kid who has a tremendous shot at actually getting the scholarship. (This is true for some other big scholarships as well.) So the value of being nominated varies by school. But if you are nominated, go for it and give it 100% and as others have noted, the experience of going through the process is worthwhile for experience alone.