Since the Honors section of the Common App is optional, does UVA look at it in their application review? I’ve won debate honors that only a few people in the whole state receive and wanted to know if it’ll help my application.
There are some larger universities that only look at a few statistics for their admissions. UVa is not one of them. Use whatever opportunity you have to explain your accomplishments.
In the past, UVa admissions officials have said that it is better to show that you had an important role in a couple activities than simply that you joined large numbers of organizations.