MisCon 40 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. the Thursday before 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. See our dresscode rules 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
THE PRE-MEET IS REQUIRED FOR ALL ENTRIES REGARDLESS OF CATEGORY
NEW THIS YEAR: MisCon is moving to a typical convention schedule and this means events changing days. The Pre-Meet and Judging is moving to Friday. The stage portion of the contest will be moving to Saturday.
After you have filled out the form you will get an auto-reply email confirming your entry.
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.
Note that Walk On entries do not have to be in costume for the pre-meet. Judging starts with Novice and works it’s way through to Masters. If you need a specific timeslot contact MisCon Costuming to make arrangements.
The Pre-meet will be on the schedule. It is the responsibility of the contestant to know when and where the Pre-meet is.
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. Every Contestant gets 4 minutes to present their costumes. 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. Be ready to discuss the costume with the Judges, they love getting to know you and your work! Judges reserve the right to bump you to a higher entry level at their discretion.
Divisions
There are 2 types of entries in the MisCon costume contest, Walk Ons and Craftsmanship.
Walk Ons: This category is for anyone who hasn’t made their costume but still wants to do a small skit or catwalk on stage for fun. Walk Ons are still required to be present for the Pre-meet to get necessary information for the stage portion of the contest. This category is open to anyone ages 13+ who wish to participate. Sign-Ups for this category are limited and will close when the cap is met.
Craftmanship: This entry type is for anyone who has made their costume and wishes to have their work looked at by our panel of wonderful judges. Craftsmanship must be present for the Pre-Meet and will be given a judging time slot.
Below information pertains to Craftsmanship entries only.
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 enter at the level of their most experienced member.
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
- Entrants 13 years of age or older
- Costumer who has never entered a contest
- 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
- Entrants 13 years of age or older
- Costumer who has won one (1) but less than three (3) awards in adult competition such as: First Place, Judges Choice, Best Craftsmanship, etc.
- Costumer who has NOT won a "Best in Show" or "Best in Class" award at the Journeyman level
- Costumer who has NOT won any kind of award at the Master level, including Runner Up or Honorable Mention prizes
- Any Novice who wishes to compete as a Journeyman
Masters
- Primarily for advanced costumers and professionals** in the costuming field
- Entrants 13 years of age or older
- Costumers who have won three (3) or more awards in adult competition
- Costumers who have won a "Best in Show" or "Best in Class" award at the Journeyman Level
- Costumers who have won ANY kind of award at the Master level
- Any costumer regardless of experience or past awards who wishes to compete as a Master
All three craftmanship categories are required to have made at least 50% of their costume to participate.
* 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 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.
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 to set down 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 Sign Ups
Sign Up for the Costume Contest HERE
