Dragon Con - Costume Contest News

Dragon Con is an annual con over Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. The con website can be found at the link at the end of this post.

I am happy to announce that there is a new addition to the DragonCon schedule. On Friday night there will be a Costume Contest held in one of the main programming rooms. This show will focus soley on Costuming. Masquerade will still go on Sunday night as usual, however, this is to compensate for how the Masquerade has become more about wild presentations and gimmicks and less about pure workmanship and costuming. Judges will be looking at the costume itself, the workmanship, the wearing and "wearability", inspiration, etc. This will be open to groups as well individuals, experts (from our panels) as well as novice, mainstream or self-creative, etc. Presentations will be allowed but kept strictly to 2-minutes and kept to a method of explanation on the costuming (who/what you are, how well you present, etc). Although there will be some "celebrity" judges, the panel will mostly be people with extreme costume backgrounds chosen by Pat Henry, the costuming track, and a group from the Directors. Tentative categories are as follows:

Best Youth - (infant to 15 y/o)
Best Mainstream Media - TV and film recreations.
Best Literary Media - Gaming, comics, books, personal interpretation, etc.
Best Novice Work - Category for new-comers to win and get recognized. We will open this to all aspects and judge JUST on workmanship and creativity.
Best Journeyman Work - Category for people that have done costumes for a few years. Not always a winner but REALLY good work.
Best Professional Work - This is for people that do this as a MAIN creative outlet but still have fun with it.
Best in Show - Overall good work and good presentation. What really WOWED us, etc.

These categories and awards may change depending on the number and kind of entries. We want to make this an ongoing thing. People have argued for years that the Masquerade has become less about costumes and more about who can WOW the judges or have a comical presentation, but has little to do with the costumes itself. While we do not want to take anything away from the Main Masquerade, we want people to know that this is where you get judged not based on popularity and audience participation but rather on how well you did your homework, your construction, and your presentment in general. The above information categories, etc are subject to change based on decisions that Pat Henry may make, etc.

In order to make this a success we will need entries! If you have been one of the people disappointed by the lack of costuming focus in the Masquerade then you need to plan an entry for this event! Tell your friends to come see it! Entry forms will be available at a later date on the Dragon Con webpage and on the Costuming Track webpage. You may also join the Costuming Track yahoo group or the Costuming Track LiveJournal group to keep appraised of developments. Links are enclosed at the end of this email. Please spread this around and plan to enter!

The Costuming Track Staff


Dragon Con website - http://www.dragoncon.org/
Costuming Track website - http://hometown.aol.com/jester7946/CostumeTrack.html
Costuming Track Yahoo Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dc_costumetrack/?yguid=189948497
Costuming Track LiveJournal - http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=dragon_costumes

 

This was a really good idea. Don't worry, there will be lots of contestants. I've already been posting it on several boards and through emails.



-C