BayCon 2006

The San Francisco Bay Area Regional
Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention

BayCon 2006 Masquerade Ball

When taking part in the Masquerade let your imagination go and come up with something bold and daring. Anything is possible, but do keep it within BayCon's General Costuming Rules on the Costuming page.

Welcome to BayCon 2006’s Masquerade. Thank you for your interest. We hope that you have as enjoyable a time as the audience does.

Division Placement

The BayCon costume competition is designed to be a friendly, entry-level competion.

Open/ Intermediate Division:

  • Any competitor may enter in the Open division

Novice Division:

  • Professional costumers may not enter in the Novice division.
  • A contestant who has competed and won in Journeyman or Master division at WorldCon, BayCon, or CostumeCon may not enter in the Novice division.
  • A contestant who has won "Best in Show" or "Best Novice" in regional or international competition, WorldCon, BayCon, or CostumeCon may not enter in the Novice division.
  • A contestant who has won more than two major awards in the Novice division at regional or international competition, WorldCon, BayCon, or Costume Con may not enter in the Novice division

For this masquerade, any person who made more than 1/3 of his or her annual income by costuming in any of the last 5 years qualifies as a "professional." "Major awards" includes any awards that do not feature "Honorable Mention" in the name.

Competitors under 15 who have participated in the design and creation of their costume may enter in the "Young Fan" division. Adult-designed and -constructed costumes presented by children may be entered in the maker's division or the Exhibition division (not in competition).

Any competitor may enter in a more advanced division than he or she is placed.

Any competitor has the option to enter in the Exhibition division (not in competition).

The Rules

"The Rules" is the list of things that can get you disqualified from competition. Some are rules for your safety and the safety of the audience. Other rules are to ensure fair competition.

  1. All masquerade contestants must be members of BayCon 2006.
  2. A costume may not be entered in competition if it has won any awards at a WorldCon or CostumeCon, or at BayCon 2005 unless costume and presentation have changed significantly (discuss with Costume Mistress). It may be entered in the Exhibition division — we are happy to have it.
  3. Individual entries are granted 60-90 seconds on stage. Group entries are granted more time, discuss with Costume Mistress.
  4. The standard PG rule applies. No costume is "no costume."
  5. No live animals are allowed on stage with the exceptions of a) people and b) service animals.
  6. No materials or effects that will leave a mess on stage or in the green room are allowed. No effects that may ruin another entrant's costume are allowed.
  7. No pyrotechnics or other fire effects are allowed.
  8. All special effects must be reviewed with the Costume Mistress before the masquerade.
  9. Entries may be received by mail or email before May 25 (masquerade@baycon.org), at the Information Desk or at any time up until 5 pm on Saturday. In order to be fair to other entrants, we are NOT accepting at-the-door entrants.
  10. If you have entered by mail or email, please meet with the Costume Mistress, Hilary Ayer, at the Meet the Guests Reception to confirm. Or leave a note in the Costume Entry box at the Info Desk. We need to be sure you are actually here!
  11. We plan to accept CD and MP3. Our first choice would be for you to turn in your music as an MP3 before the convention by emailing it to Lunatic. Bring an extra copy, please. If you’re bringing a CD, Plan to meet with DJ Lunatic at the 'Meet the Guests' Reception Friday night and give him your music/pre-recorded wording CD or MP3. Your last chance is to meet him at the Saturday afternoon "How to enter a Masquerade" panel.. Bring another copy with you when you check in at 6:30. You can contact Lunatic online — dj@baycon.org.
  12. If you wish the MC to say anything other than the name of your costume and your own name(s), bring a short script. A few sentences is all there will be time for.
  13. CHECK IN is at 6:30 pm at the Masquerade Greenroom. Plan to remain there until the Masquerade is over. Eat first or bring a sandwich from the snack bar.
  14. Each entrant may bring one helper. Seating space at the Masquerade for the helper cannot be guaranteed — have your friends save you a seat.
  15. The divisions are Novice, Open/Intermediate, Young Costumer, Exhibition, and a possible Master. Master class is meant for costumers who have won a Master Class award at BayCon, Costume Con, or a World Con. (We are not certain that there will be enough contestants for a Master Class. It's an experiment.)You may always enter in a category above your normal one, but be advised that this may put you into a more difficult level of competition. The Costume Mistress and Judges reserve the right to institute a "special" category if appropriate.

The hints

These hints and suggestions will help you to present more effectively. If you don't follow these hints, you won't be disqualified, but your presentation probably won't go as well as you would like.

Please save your masquerade costume for the masquerade; don't wear it as a hall costume.

Don't plan on having access to power on stage. We don't have it. Extension cords all over the stage aren't particularly safe.

Don't plan to use a microphone. During presentations, the MC is the only person with a microphone. Spoken narrative may be pre-recorded or in the form of a script for the MC (24pt type preferred). Spoken dialog must be pre-recorded.

For music — we plan to accept CD and MP3. Our first choice would be for you to turn in your music as an MP3 before the convention by emailing it to Lunatic. Bring an extra copy, please. If you’re bringing a CD, Plan to meet with DJ Lunatic at the 'Meet the Guests' Reception Friday night and give him your music/pre-recorded wording CD or MP3. Your last chance is to meet him at the Saturday afternoon "How to enter a Masquerade" panel. Bring another copy with you when you check in at 6:30. You can contact Lunatic online — dj@baycon.org.

An MP3 file is preferred. If you are capable of burning your own audio CDs, that’s also an option.

If you're entering a re-creation costume, and have brought documentation, please submit a copy. A letter-size color photocopy or color print of your source should be sufficient to show the judges what you're trying to recreate (6 copies would be nice). The judges will probably ignore anything other than that. Video, floppy disks and CDs are right out. Paper, please.

Workmanship judging is optional. Workmanship is judged by a separate judge and has no bearing on presentation awards. All entrants are encouraged to participate in workmanship judging, which will occur backstage before the presentation.