Masquerade
2nd Annual Spam Slam

Hypericon Masquerade

The HyperiCon 4 Masquerade Rules

Based on the International Costumer's Guild Guidelines Ensuring Fair Competition

Sign-ups for the competition will be at the registration desk from 1pm Friday, June 27, until 5pm on Saturday, June 28. Competitors MUST fill out the appropriate paper work before 5pm on Saturday to be allowed to compete in the Masquerade on Saturday evening.

We will be able to play CDs over the PA system but not tapes or other media. Any music/background sounds/etc must be in the form of CD and you must be able to give the tech crew the track number. This is the ONLY tech equipment and support we have for this year.

No contestant will be provided with a microphone, but speaking to the audience is allowed. Keep comments and skits at a "PG" rating. Comments and skits not within the "PG" rating may be disqualified from the competition.

Skits are not required, but encouraged just to make things more fun. Your entry will be based on the merit of the costuming, not on whether or not you present a skit. Skits will be limited to 2 minutes for a single entry, and 4 minutes for a group entry.

If an entry is replayed due to technical problems or crew error, judges will do their best to disregard the first appearance.

Competitors will compete in Divisions in order to make the competition fair. The Divisions are based on the International Costumer's Guild Guidelines and are as follows:

Master:

Any competitor may enter in the Master division.

Journeyman:

Professional costumers may not enter in the Journeyman division.
A contestant who has competed and won in the Master division at an international competition may not enter in the Journeyman division.
A contestant who has won "Best in Show" or "Best Journeyman" at an international competition may not enter in the Journeyman division.
A contestant who has won more than three major awards in the Journeyman division in international competition may not enter in the Journeyman division.
Awards won at regional competitions may be counted towards placement at the discretion of the costumer and the masquerade director.
Minor awards may be counted towards placement at the discretion of the costumer.

Novice:

Professional costumers may not enter in the Novice division.
A contestant who has competed and won in any division other than Novice at an international competition may not enter in the Novice division.
A contestant who has won "Best in Show" or "Best Novice" at an international competition may not enter in the Novice division.
A contestant who has won numerous major awards in the Novice division at international competitions is encouraged to enter in the Journeyman division.
Awards won at regional competitions may be counted towards division placement at the discretion of the costumer and the masquerade director.
Minor awards may be counted towards placement at the discretion of the costumer.

Junior/Youth:

A child wearing a costume designed and built entirely by an adult should be entered either in the adult's appropriate skill division or entered as an exhibition (out of competition) piece.

In the event that we do not have enough entries for the above system, a two tier system of "Novice" and "Experienced" will be used. In this case, children will compete in the "novice" category. Children will be considered under age 16.

A competitor may always choose to compete in a higher division than that in which the masquerade director has placed him or her. He or she may not choose to compete in a lower division.

A "Recreation" must be based on at least one pictorial representation of the costume but it need not be based on a physical garment. Sources may include but are not by any means limited to costumes depicted in television and film (whether live-action or animated), two-dimensional art (illustrations, cover-art and photographs) and three-dimensional art (sculpture).

If a competitor chooses to compete with a recreation costume, a picture of the source material is STRONGLY encouraged. Please limit source material to three images.

Historical costumes are also most welcome. Source pictures and/or documentation to prove authenticity are encouraged. Please limit source material to three images.

Source materials can be picked up at the judges table immediately following the competition. If materials/CDs are not picked up by the time the room is cleared for the next event, we will leave them at the registration desk with no guarantee that they will be returned.

Prizes will be awarded to "Best Of" in each category (Master, Journeyman, Novice, and Youth, OR Novice, Experienced), as well as a "Best in Show" for the overall best costume (or group). Winner of each Division will receive a certificate and mention on our website, winner of Best in Show will receive a certificate, mention on our website, and a free membership to HyperiCon 5/DeepSouthCon 47.

If there are enough competitors, Minor Awards will be given for "Best Reproduction", "Best Historical", and "Best Original". Prizes will be ribbons and mention on our website.

Regardless of number of competitors, "Best Construction" will be awarded as a Minor Award. The prize is a ribbon and mention on our website.

2nd Annual Hypericon Spam Slam

Have you ever noticed that e-mail spam has gotten classed up? Improved spam filters have caused spammers to create messages that have actual content in order to slip through. Spam is no longer some bland informative about how you too can have a bigger insert-name-of-body-part-here, but is now some bizarre and rambling chunk of disjointed prose. Thanks to the magic of these improved spam filters, we now have a free source of incomprehensible poetry without having to go listen to that weird guy in Centennial Park.

Your mission: check your e-mail spam folder. Pick some of the weirdest messages (make sure they are vaguely poetic in format), and come to the Second Annual Spam Slam on Friday night at HyperiCon. It's not just the content we're looking for, but the quality of the reading. Perhaps you want to deliver it beatnik style with your beret and bongos. Maybe you'd rather deliver some slam-style poetry. Perhaps a quiet Victorian reading reminiscent of Emily Dickenson. Whatever you decide, come lay it on us.

The best Spam Slammer, by audience vote, will receive some sort of prize...No, I don't know what it will be. We haven't gotten that far yet. Not interested in participating? That's fine - it's almost as much fun to watch as it is to read.