Masquerade Judging

Participating in the judging aspect of the Masquerade is purely voluntary. If you don’t like competing, or if your costume doesn’t actually qualify for competition, you are still welcome and encouraged to appear on stage as an Exhibition entry. Appearing on stage gives your outfit maximum exposure to the convention attendees with minimal amounts of work.

Everyone is encouraged to participate in both workmanship and presentation judging. After all, if you don’t enter, you won’t win! There are two types of judging: presentation and workmanship.

Presentation: Evaluating how your costume is presented on the stage (not the quality of your performance).

Workmanship: This is the “up close” judging of a costumer’s technique. This occurs in the green room, before the show.

Participating in the “competitive” aspect of the masquerade is voluntary. You do not have to submit to either form of judging you don’t want to (in which case, select the “exhibition only” category on the entry form). But, as we say, if you don’t enter, you can’t win!

• Workmanship: Our workmanship judge will get up close and personal with your costume and props in the Green Room prior to the actual start of the Masquerade. You will have the opportunity to show off details that you’re particularly proud of, that won’t be that visible on stage, as well as chat with the judge about overall construction tricks and techniques used to create your costume. You can pass on Workmanship judging and still participate in Presentation judging.
• Presentation: Our presentation judges will assess how you (or your model) and your costume appears on stage. Do you inhabit your character’s body when you move on stage? Is your presentation (no matter whether it’s a walk-through or a full-fledged skit) appropriate to the character and costume? The judges discuss these kinds of questions as they debate which entries deserve prizes.
• If you have a re-creation costume (i.e. a costume that’s a recreation of a costume from another source, like pretty much anything worn by characters on tv, in film, on the web, in manga, or in anime), you should bring along some form of documentation for the judges. This documentation doesn’t have to be elaborate: a few photos of the costume will suffice. The judges may not be familiar with the source costume. You may turn your documentation in with your entry forms and your music/soundtrack at the Pre-Masquerade Meeting.