First and foremost, the Geek.Kon Masquerade is a costume contest. This means that rewarding the skill of the costumers who enter is our first priority. A very close second is to put on the very best show that we can! For both for the contestants and the audience!

After observing the range that attendees travel and the attendance numbers the convention draws, the Geek.Kon Masquerade has declared itself to be a regional competition. This means that folks from all over the Mid-West participate. Local competitions tend to be smaller and draw contestants only from the immediate area. International competitions draw participants from all over the world. Currently, the International Costumer's Guild (ICG) recognizes only three international-level competitions; World Con, Costume Con, and Anime North. Generally, the larger the range a competition draws on, the harder the competition is. Most people like to work their way up to the international level. Our goal at Geek.Kon is to provide a quality regional-level competition.

The ICG, or the International Costumer's Guild, is the largest and farthest-reaching hobby costuming club in the world. The ICG serves as a unifying force within the costuming hobby and has created guidelines and suggestions for competitions that are tried and true and help ensure fairness and quality in competitions. For more information on the ICG, visit www.costume.org. Geek.Kon's Masquerade is hosted by the Madison Area Costumers Society, the Madison, Wisconsin chapter of the ICG.

The reason for the 90-second time limit is three-fold.

1. 90 seconds is on the high end of the standard for competitions of Geek.Kon's size and scope. Many of Geek.Kon's masquerade's rules are based off of International level competitions because those have been found to be the most fair. The time limit at the International level is 60 seconds. At Geek.Kon we decided to give an extra 30 seconds to allow for longer skits as are common at many other local cons.
2. The Geek.Kon Masquerade typically lasts 2 hours. If longer performances were allowed, we would need to cap the number of entrants. We want to allow everyone to participate.
3. We have noticed that no one in our competitions so far has gone over the minute and a half benchmark.

Certainly not! We welcome any kind of performance! It is actually quite rare to see skits that go over the 90-second mark. When you're on stage, 90 seconds is actually quite a long time!

You can do any kind of performance that doesn't violate the rules! Many common ideas are to walk around the stage to music to display your costume. You can also do skits or other performances to showcase the personality behind the costume. If you're stuck thinking up something, Geek.Kon always hosts a panel dedicated to masquerade performance.

As stated previous, the Geek.Kon masquerade is first and foremost a costume competition. We believe that merit deserves reward and want to award costumers for their skill. A commissioned costume does not demonstrate your costuming skill. This does not mean that you cannot model a costume for the creator as long as the creator of the costume is present at the convention.

If you feel strongly that it gets shown on stage, perhaps the work was done by a close friend who simply could not make it to the convention or you are so impressed with the commissioner that you wish to make their name better known - the Geek.Kon masquerade has an Exhibition category. Exhibition entrants do not get their costumes judged and are not eligible for awards. All other masquerade rules pertaining to performance apply, however, so they must still conform to the 90-second stage time limit. Remember, too, that it can be just as exciting for people to see an impressive costume in the hallways as it is to see it on the stage! Geek.Kon also has a hall costume competition. You may receive an award for your costume just for wearing it around the halls!

As long as a costume has never appeared at Geek.Kon, it may compete in the competition. Some people are still uncomfortable competing if they have won awards with the costume at other conventions. This is another reason that we have the Exhibition category. We do ask that costumes that have won either Best in Show in regional competitions or major awards of any kind at the International level Exhibit to allow others who have not yet been recognized for their work have a fair playing field.

Any costume is welcome in the Geek.Kon Masquerade! Media recreation, historical recreation, and yes, even completely original costumes are welcome to compete. Creativity comes in many forms. We want to encourage all of them.

If you would rather just perform and not worry about the costume competition at all, Geek.Kon has a solution; The Geek Show. The Geek Show is a talent showcase for any convention goer and is more geared toward showing off performance talent. Please find more information on the Geek Show in the Events section.

As long as you made your costume you are welcome to compete in the masquerade! We have multiple skill divisions so those new to sewing will not have to face off with the seasoned veterans and the pros.

Documentation is any reference you wish to bring along with your costume to your judging time to help the judges know about your costume. It can be as simple as a picture or as extensive as a ten-page write-up with reference pictures, in-progress photos, and materials references. No matter the form it may take, we highly suggest bringing documentation. It ensures that the judges will be familiar enough with your costume to make a fair assessment of your work. Plus, it can help you to remember everything that you want to mention to the judges when that potentially stressful moment comes.

We do require that you partake in the tech rehearsal. The tech rehearsal is an opportunity for you to get acquainted with the stage. It's also the time to make sure that the MC and tech crew know your cues (or at least how to pronounce your/the character's name!) It's also a safety concern, to make sure that you're able to get on and off the stage without hurting you or damaging your costume. If you don't have a complicated skit then the tech rehearsal should only take a few minutes.

We do admit there is a bit of a time commitment to the masquerade. Judging times and tech rehearsals are on a first come first serve schedule, so you can decide what time you want to commit to the show and plan it around the rest of the convention. We trim down where we can, but it takes a lot to make sure your costumes get the recognition they deserve!

All staffing, including judges, is done by the Masquerade Director and the Geek.Kon Costume department. Judges are chosen for their knowledge of the costuming hobby, various skills, and their ability to tell a well-crafted costume through visual inspection and interview questions.

The Green Room is the backstage area of the masquerade. There's a lot going on and a lot of people need to be able to get around quickly on short notice. The Green Room needs to be as clear as possible in order to make certain things run smoothly. Contestants are welcome to have a handler or assistant to help them with complicated costumes, but everyone in the Green Room needs to have a reason for being there. If you have a helper be sure to let the Green Room director know!

It can be a whole lot of fun to have a big reveal on your competition costume when it appears on stage for the first time. It makes it more exciting for the audience if they have never seen it before and can give you a better audience reaction. This is entirely your choice. We don't require any sort of secrecy and if you wish to show off your costume in the halls prior to the masquerade, you are welcome to do so.

Different masquerades have different approaches. The ICG guidelines for ensuring fair competition are a very important influence on our format. We feel that we have put together a fair and respectable competition and we ask for open minds when encountering ways of doing things that may be unfamiliar. In the end, the masquerade staff is there to help you through the process, so feel free to ask questions at any point.

The masquerade has typically had over 30 entries, more than enough to warrant separate skill levels. Also, the skill levels are based off of ICG guidelines for ensuring a fair competition. It's not fair to put someone who just made their first pair of pants up against a professional tailor. Both could be amazing work, and in that case both should be recognized.

At a multi-genre con like Geek.Kon it's impossible to know how many costumes of each genre we are going to get in the masquerade. Instead of having strict guidelines for which costumes get an award (beyond best in class/show), the judges are allowed to design their own awards to meet the needs of each unique competition.

We believe that merit deserves award. We want to encourage and award creativity. Each Geek.Kon Masquerade is unique because the contestants keep changing what they do. The judges get to see the costumes up and close and personal and know what should be awarded. We don't want an amazing costume not to get an award because it didn't fit a cookie cutter title.

If you have any questions or concerns about the Masquerade rules please contact the Masquerade Director at costuming@geekkon.net. We want to make sure that we're creating the best Masquerade possible! Remember, we can't change the rules once the convention has begun, but we can always work to make things better in the meantime.

Please, speak up! We are here to see to it the contest is fair to everyone and that the competition is as good an experience as we can make it for as many as we can make it. Any concerns should be brought to the staff's attention. We can't fix it if we don't know it's happening.

Unfortunately, there is very little to be done about a complaint after a contest or convention are over except take it into consideration for next year. There is no do-over masquerade on convention weekend and no reliable way to revoke an award. But we'll have another crack at it at the next one and we can work on making improvements, provided that we know we need to make them. The best way to help us do that is to speak up.

The e-mail for the Geek.Kon Costume Department is always open. Just drop a line to costuming@geekkon.net and someone from the department will get back to you as soon as we can. We always welcome feedback.