Masquerade

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2013 BayCon Masquerade. I am your masquerade director, Jean Batt. I am more than willing to answer any questions you have about the masquerade this year.

"Presentation" and "Workmanship" judging are entirely separate. There is one judging panel for Presentation and another judging panel for Workmanship. Each panel selects and gives its own awards. You don't have to enter in Workmanship if you don't want to and it will not effect your Presentation at all.

This should be fun for both you, your fellow compeditors and the audience, so enjoy yourself and don't take this to seriously. We are all here to enjoy ourselves and show off the wonderful work that we have made over the last year.

If you have questions for me directly please e-mail me or show up to the Masquerade 101 panel and i would be happy to answer what ever question you have.

General Competition Guidelines

  • A costume that has not won an award in competition may be entered in another masquerade.
  • A costume that has won a major award may be entered again in a competition of similar size at the discretion of the masquerade director (usually if the audience, judges and slate of competitors are significantly different).
  • A costume that has won a major award in competition may be entered again in a larger competition.

Master

  • Any competitor may enter in the Master division

Journeyman

  • Professional costumers may not enter in the Journeyman division.
  • A contestant who has competed and won in the Master division at an international competition may not enter in the Journeyman division.
  • A contestant who has won "Best in Show" or "Best Journeyman" at an international competition may not enter in the Journeyman division.
  • A contestant who has won more than three major awards in the Journeyman division in international competition may not enter in the Journeyman division
  • Awards won at regional competitions may be counted towards placement at the discretion of the costumer and the masquerade director.
  • Minor awards may be counted towards placement at the discretion of the costumer.

Novice

  • Professional costumers may not enter in the Novice division.
  • A contestant who has competed and won in any division other than Novice at an international competition may not enter in the Novice division.
  • A contestant who has won "Best in Show" or "Best Novice" at an international competition may not enter in the Novice division.
  • A contestant who has won numerous major awards in the Novice division at international competitions is encouraged to enter in the Journeyman division
  • Awards won at regional competitions may be counted towards division placement at the discretion of the costumer and the masquerade director.
  • Minor awards may be counted towards placement at the discretion of the costumer.

Junior/Youth

  • A child wearing a costume designed and built entirely by an adult should be entered either in the adult's appropriate skill division or entered as an exhibition (out of competition) piece.

WORKMANSHIP

Any entry can enter in workmanship for the division that they qualify for.  Anything or part of the costume that the competitor made can be entered into workmanship judging.  It must be made, sewn, fabricated, built or modified by the competitor.  Costumes that are purchased do not qualify for workmanship.  But parts of the costume that aren't presented to the judges be by purchased but don't qualify for this part of the competition.  Even if a tiny part of the costume is made by the competitor they can enter that one part of the costume for workmanship and have it stand on its own.  

If the competitors or judges wonder if something actually qualifies for workmanship, they can ask the masquerade director.

PRESENTATION

There are a few ways that a competitor can enter in presentation

  1. A entry can just walk across the stage to show what they have made and walk off.  They must give the crowd enough time to see their work on the stage.
  2. A entry can put together a little skit with music and sound.  Please have your music on a CD so that our tech crew can play it for you.  Make sure that your sound is already edited to where you need it to be.  Each team has 60 seconds on stage for teams of three members or less.  90 seconds for four members or more.

Judging Guidelines

A good judge brings his or her experiences and opinions to the table. A judge should base his or her opinion of an entry only on what he or she sees on stage or in the workmanship judging area. Other influences, including comments from the MC, should be disregarded.

If an entry is replayed due to technical problems or crew error, a judge should do his or her best to disregard the first appearance.

Judges are expected to avoid conflicts of interest. A judge should inform you if he or she may be influenced by a personal or business relationship. It is your responsibility to consult with your judging panel to find an appropriate solution. Solutions may include a judge excusing himself or herself from deliberations where the competitor in question is involved, or removing himself or herself from the judging panel.

If any of judges appear to be incapable of judging fairly and impartially, whether due to personal issues or intoxication, they will be removed from the judging panel.

When interacting directly with competitors (either in an in-person workmanship judging situation or after the competition), judges, like masquerade directors, are asked to be fair and considerate.

A consistent award scheme is valuable in promoting fairness and equity between different competitions. "Excellence deserves award" is a good guiding principal for any judge. If an entry shows merit, it should be given an award. The ICG recommends two classes of awards, Minor and Major, and a standard naming convention for such awards. Whether an entry is given a major or minor award is at the discretion of the judging panel.

  • Minor awards do not affect future division placement. We suggest that judging panels use "Honorable Mention" to identify minor awards.
  • Major awards do affect future division placement, and may be named in any way the judges deem appropriate.

While most awards, major and minor, are judged purely on the merit of the entry in question, there is a group of major awards that is judged instead on the relative merit of the entry with respect to its competitors. These "competitive" awards most commonly include "Best in Division" and "Best in Show" and have a greater impact on future division placement than other major awards.