Masquerade

Welcome to the Norwescon Masquerade!

The Norwescon 46 masquerade was presented on Saturday, March 30, 2024. The masquerade is open to all convention members of all costuming skill levels; contestants compete against other contestants at their own level. The masquerade is the highlight of Saturday night at the con. It follows the International Costumers’ Guild guidelines for guidance and skill levels.

If you didn’t get to see the masquerade at Norwescon, please kick back and enjoy the show at your leisure!

Masquerade Judging

Presentation judging is mandatory. It consists of your presentation on stage. It judges everything from your costume’s appearance on stage, to how you act and move, to your music and voiceovers, etc. The judges will give awards divided by skill levels and excellence of performance within those different skill levels.

Workmanship judging is optional. It takes place in the masquerade backstage area before the show begins. It allows the workmanship judges to consider exceptional accomplishment in crafting costumes, props, and accessories. This is the place where exquisite attention to detail may be recognized. Re-creation costumes (a costume whose design is copied from a film, television show, theatrical presentation, book illustration, comic, work of art, or other medium) must provide color pictures of the original for the workmanship judges. Please bring no more than four pieces of documentation for the judges. Let your Den Parent know if you want your costume and/or props and accessories judged for workmanship.

If a participant is re-creating a costume from media, they must provide a color picture of the original for the workmanship judges’ reference. Additional documentation (aka “workbooks”) of the construction process is strongly recommended, but should not exceed more than three letter-sized pages when printed out. Contestants may drop off documentation during a pre-meeting or bring it with them when checking in backstage. The style/format of the workbook is not one of the criteria in workmanship judging, so there is no need to wrap documentation up in a fancy binder with fancier paper—unless you really want to!

Skill Divisions

Anyone may choose to compete in a higher skill division. Group presentations will be judged based on the highest skill division of the individual members.

Rising Star is for any contestant 13 years of age or younger who is not part of an adult group. Rising Star costumes must be made by the entrant with no more than a minimum amount of supervisory help. An adult-made costume may not be entered in this category and should instead be entered in the appropriate skill division of the adult who made it.

Novice is for any contestant who has not previously won an award for a costume in any masquerade, or who has won a maximum of two awards in the Novice division for different costumes at a world-class convention masquerade such as Worldcon or Costume-Con, or at a regional convention masquerade such as Norwescon or Westercon.

Journeyman is for any contestant who has won a maximum of three awards for different costumes in the Novice division at a world-class or regional convention masquerade.

Master is for any contestant who has won four or more awards for different costumes in the Journeyman or Master division, or who has won one or more Best in Show awards, at a regional or world-class convention masquerade. Professional costumers must enter the Master division.

The masquerade director may change your skill division if needed. If you are still uncertain as to your skill division, please check out this skill division flow chart (235KB .pdf).