Contests

ZERO, but you must have a Dragon Con membership badge and show it to the Masquerade volunteer who registers you.

Use the pre-registration form prior to the Wednesday before the Con on this site by following the link or stop by the Masquerade Registration table in the Hyatt in front of the Centennial Ball Room and fill out a registration form before 3 p.m on Sunday. We will be staffed Friday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EVEN IF YOU PRE-REGISTERED ON THE WEBSITE YOU NEED TO COME BY THE REGISTRATION TABLE TO CONFIRM YOU ARE AT THE CONVENTION AND TO RECEIVE INSTRUCTIONS.  REGISTRATION FOR THE MASQUERADE WILL CLOSE SUNDAY AT 3:00p – we need time to prepare the entry forms for the emcees, and we will be completing the tabulations for the Hall Costume Contest.

The volunteers at the table will log you in as an entrant, read your form, and assist you (if necessary) in composing the best announcement for your entrance. The volunteer will also check whether you have planned to use a CD for audio music or dialogue; if so, the CD will be tested to verify that the track is acceptable; then it will be retained by the Dragon Con Masquerade volunteers and loaded onto our equipment. You must remain at the registration table to learn if your CD will be able to be played during the show. Your entry form will be kept by the volunteers, and we will enter all the forms into a computer and print them so that the emcee will be able to read your announcement. We need your real name on the entry form, not your con nickname. You will be given something to note that you are a registered contestant – this will gain you access to the prep area before the Masquerade.  Do not lose it.

Children go on stage in the first group of the evening. The children’s winners are determined and announced; then, the children and two family members for each child will be seated in a reserved area of the auditorium to enjoy the rest of the show. The first item of business for the Director during the backstage prep will be to ask if anyone has a pressing legitimate need to be in the first adult group to go on stage. This will happen at 6:30p, so if you need to be among the first contestants to go onstage, be at the prep area before 6:30p. A legitimate need is defined as a physical limitation or a costume that is too hot or uncomfortable to be in for more than 2 hours or so.

All other contestants will be assigned sequence numbers for going onstage at the discretion of the Director, using a time-tested scientific method: pretty girl, monster, skit. (Hey, it works.)

The Director has made the determination that no microphones will be given to contestants due to problems in past Masquerades. BE AWARE: Do not try to project your normal voice into the audience – it is too large a room and will have too many bodies. We have found that contestants who try to address the audience directly cannot be heard, not even by the judges at their table in front of the stage. If you attempt to address the audience directly, you will be escorted off of the stage.

We can use CDs with any music, dialogue, etc. that you wish – as long as there is no profanity. This is a family show. We will not accept tapes due to problems playing them in the past. The CD track MUST be approved by a Masquerade volunteer at the contest registration table when you register (before 3:00p on Sunday). Your CD will be retained by our volunteers and loaded onto our equipment. Our volunteers will make sure that your assigned contestant number for the show is put on your CD, and the CD will be given to the tech crew as backup in case our primary equipment fails.

If you want your CD back, you can go to the tech station in the ballroom immediately after the contest (it is located on the wall across from the entrance into the ballroom), or pick up your CD at the Masquerade Registration table on Monday after 10:00a We will not be responsible for CDs left after the end of the Convention. On Monday afternoon, they will be discarded.

During the pre-contest set-up, the Director will assign a Masquerade volunteer to a group of contestants. We try to keep the numbers manageable, so there will be approximately 10 to 12 people in each group. This may be 6 individual entrants and one skit of 6 people, or a similar mix. The den mother will be responsible for reviewing registration sheets with the assigned numbers, verifying that the contestants understand the rules and will abide by them, collecting contestants’ tech sheets (ALL CONTESTANTS MUST HAVE A TECH SHEET WHETHER OR NOT THEY HAVE TURNED IN A CD), and turning it all in to the volunteer collecting the data for the Director and the tech crew.

The den mother will then make sure that the contestants stay comfortable, get water, keep as quiet as possible in the backstage area, and get up on the stage when the time arrives, and then help them to get backstage after their performances.

The categories help us create a level playing field. If an entrant has won “Best in Show” at a previous convention, he or she is considered a “Master” – then all the “Master” category entrants compete against each other for a “Best in Show – Master” Award. We award a “Best in Show – Novice” award for the best scoring first-time entrant (someone who has never entered in a contest before).

We award a “Best in Show – Journeyman” award to the best competitor in the Journeyman category (someone who has won a category award previously).

We award a “Best in Show” to the best non-Master entrant. In any future Dragon Con Masquerades they enter, they will then compete in the “Master” category.

As stated above, we will have “Best in Show – Master”, “Best in Show – Journeyman”, and “Best in Show – Novice” awards. The top-scoring entrant who is not a Master will win an award entitled “Best in Show.”

We MAY have awards for other categories, depending on the entrants and number of contestants. In years past, we have utilized the following categories: Skit, Humor, Horror, Fantasy, Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Historical Recreation, Farscape, Lord of the Rings, Comic Book, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Audience Favorite . . . the list goes on.

Basically, the judges score all entrants, the scores are logged into a spreadsheet, and we check the tallied scores for the highest total scores. This is a very quick process – thank goodness for computers! The contestants with the highest scores are then checked for category. If there were two Star Wars contestants who scored equally well and we had 6 or more Star Wars entrants, we might break the category into Star Wars Hero and Star Wars Villain. However, if you are the only Farscape entry it does not necessarily mean you will win Best Farscape; you may be moved into a general SciFi category. It all depends on the number of entrants, what they do on stage, and the scoring by the judges.

The judges (3 to 5 convention guests) award a score of 0 to 10 for each of 3 attributes for each contestant. The attributes are:

Originality/Adaptation: Is this the most original concept the judges and audience have seen, or the best adaptation of a known concept? For example, a contestant made a “super hero” costume out of gold lame placemats; another contestant had a completely authentic Alien costume, down to the dripping mouth drool. Note to contestants: describe the inspiration for your costume in your emcee announcement.

Composition: Did someone go out and buy this, or did the contestant spend hours gluing, sewing, welding, etc. – is this a labor of love or dollars? For example, a contestant had hand-sewn thousands of yards of lace to make a beautiful historical costume; another contestant had hand-hammered hundreds of metal rings for chain mail. Note to contestants: tell us how long it took and the craftsmanship required in your emcee announcement – blow your own horn.

Presentation: Does the contestant(s) stay in character (or do something completely out of character) that grabs the audience? For example, the Alien guy made a little sign that he whipped out after he had menacingly advanced towards the emcee – the sign said “Ripley Sucks”; two contestants in historically correct medieval attire slowly crossed the stage while giving the royal wave and nod to their subjects – and we all felt like their subjects; a group came out in Klingon makeup – with Kiss make up on top and declared themselves to be a Klingon Kiss rock band. Note to contestants: get into character and stay there, or find a way to exploit or turn your character into the unexpected – grab the audience – humor helps.

There are plaques for Best in Show – Master, Best in Show, Best in Show – Children, Best in Show – Journeyman, and Best in Show – Novice; the rest of the category winners get a nice certificate suitable for framing. Winners may receive dealer bucks. Dealer bucks are tokens accepted in the dealers’ room for merchandise.

Prize categories and amounts:

Best in Show – $500 Check and a 3 night paid hotel stay in a host hotel

Best Master Class – $100 Dealer Dollars

Best Journeyman – $50 Dealer Dollars

Best Novice – $50 Dealer Dollars

5 Category Awards – $50 Dealer Dollars Each

Best in Show Teen/Youth – $50 Dealer Dollars

Best in Show Child – $50 Dealer Dollars

Best in Show Toddler – $50 Dealer Dollars

NO – we cannot risk the Atlanta Fire Department shutting us down.

We can’t say for sure at this time – but we will get back to contestants who have a specific concern.