Missoula's Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention

MisCon 39 Costume Contest Rules

Costume Contest Rules

• All costume contest participants must be registered attendees of MisCon
• Online entries are required and must be completed prior to 11:59 p.m. on Saturday of the Convention. No late entries will be accepted.
• Please use discretion with your costume. Remember: If you wouldn’t wear it to a pool, don’t wear it here. The MisCon Costume Director has final say on all entries.
• Your costume must be finished prior to judging. No sewing, gluing, spray painting, or emergency construction work is allowed backstage.
• By appearing in the Costume Contest, you are agreeing to allow MisCon to use video or photos of you in costume for future use.
• Costumes with electric power requirements need to be battery operated or self-contained.
  Any prop weapon must have passed inspection and be approved by MisCon Security and peace-bonded appropriately. There will be no exceptions to this rule.
• For safety reasons the following are not allowed on stage:
  • Live animals (exception including registered service animals)
  • Substances which may damage or soil other costumes
  • Aerosol sprays
  • or projectiles.
• No pyrotechnics will be permitted. This is including but not limited to:
  • Fire
  • Flash powder
  • Explosives
  • Smoke bombs
  • Fireworks
• The Costume Director has the right to eliminate any entry from the competition on the basis of taste, danger to audience or facilities, violation of any of the above rules or any other reason deemed sufficient.

Pre-Meet

After you have filled out the form you will get an auto-reply email confirming your entry. Then when details are finalized you will get another email confirming the date and time of the Pre-Meet.

You will not hear from MisCon staff until the Costume Contest Pre-Meet at the convention. All the information for Costume Prejudging and the Stage portion of the Contest will be given at this time.

Please keep an eye on your email as the time of this panel will be sent out as soon as it has been finalized. (If you are signing up on June 20th the email will come as soon as we can get them out. This can happen at any time. If you are signing up the night of June 21st you can expect your email to come through as late/early as 1 AM the 22nd)

IMPORTANT: If you are unable to attend the Pre-Meet you will need to contact the head of Costumes at costume@miscon.org to get an exception. Costume Contest participants who fail to communicate and No Show the Pre-meet will be disqualified.

Judging

Please be on time and come prepared for your judging time. Please bring any reference photos you may have as our Judges are not always familiar with every character from every TV series, movie, manga, anime, or game and be ready to discuss the costume with the Judges. Judges reserve the right to bump you to a higher entry level at their discretion.

Backstage Facilities

There are no bathrooms or private dressing areas backstage, so you will need to come fully costumed. There may be limited space backstage for props or pieces of large costumes, but we can't guarantee that. Please make arrangements with the Costume Director if you have particular needs.

Costume Contest

To ensure that all contestants are judged fairly, we have split registration into skill divisions. Please ensure that you select your appropriate category when registering for the contest. Group entries must state the level that their most experienced member meets the criteria for. The judges and costume team reserve the right to bump a contestant into a higher category level if they deem it a higher skill level. Divisions are as follows:

Novice

Entry Level costumer, have not yet won an award in a costume contest. Professional costumers** may not enter the Novice division

1. Entrants 13 years of age or older
2. Costumer who has never entered a contest
3. Costumer who has NOT won an award in any costume competition at the adult level

Journeyman

Mid-Level costumer, has won less than 3 awards. Professional costumers** may not enter the Journeyman division

1. Entrants 13 years of age or older
2. Costumer who has won one (1) but less than three (3) awards in adult competition such as: First Place, Judges Choice, Best Craftsmanship, etc.
3. Costumer who has NOT won a "Best in Show" or "Best in Class" award at the Journeyman level
4. Costumer who has NOT won any kind of award at the Master level, including Runner Up or Honorable Mention prizes
5. Any Novice who wishes to compete as a Journeyman

Master

1. Primarily for advanced costumers and professionals** in the costuming field
2. Entrants 13 years of age or older
3. Costumers who have won three (3) or more awards in adult competition
4. Costumers who have won a "Best in Show" or "Best in Class" award at the Journeyman Level
5. Costumers who have won ANY kind of award at the Master level
6. Any costumer regardless of experience or past awards who wishes to compete as a Master

* MisCon reserves the right to combine or split skill divisions as required for any reason and without notice to meet the needs of the competition.

** A Professional Costumer is defined as any individual who is hired for pay on full time basis to create costumes for any kind of studio or theatrical organization OR who obtains more than 25% of their yearly income through commissioned costumes for other individuals.

The costume contest entry form is available HERE.

• Return to Costuming Hub