About the Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a body of achievement in the costuming art and service to the costuming community. Candidates for the award:

  • Shall have been active in the costuming community for at least 10 years.
  • Shall have achieved significant recognition for their costuming skills, which may be in the form of, but not restricted to, competitive awards, professional accomplishments, teaching of skills, and/or media recognition.
  • Shall have made significant contributions in service to the costuming community.

The ICG President oversees the nomination and election process. Nominations can be made by any ICG member, chapter, or SIG in good standing, and are due no later than 60 days before the annual members meeting. ICG chapter presidents and the five elected officers vote on the nominations. Send nominations to laa-nomination@costume.org with “LAA Nomination” as the subject line.

Preparing a Nomination

Preparing an effective nomination takes time, so we strongly recommend starting as early as possible. Past recipient citations were based on information provided in their nominations.

Here are some tips for preparing a nomination:

  • Not all chapter presidents and officers who vote on the award are familiar with the person you are nominating. Give them a good understanding of your nominee’s qualifications and accomplishments.
  • Start with a one- or two-paragraph “executive summary” that addresses all the qualifications for the award. This is your best chance to make your case, so spend some quality time on this.
  • Follow that with some notable accomplishments that support what you said in your “executive summary.” A few well-chosen examples are usually enough.
  • If you are describing costuming skills, include a couple of URLs to photos in the ICG’s International Costumers’ Gallery or other photo sites as examples.
  • Nominations typically run from several paragraphs to a full page (200-500 words). Quality is more important than quantity.

In 1988, costume fandom presented an award for lifetime achievement to Karen Anderson at the World Science Fiction Convention, Nolacon II (New Orleans). This was the first such award, ever. It is a forerunner of the ICG Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lifetime Achievement Awards

The highest honor the International Costumers’ Guild pays to costumers is its Lifetime Achievement Award. Beginning in 1990, the following costumers have received the Award for their contributions to the costuming community.

Jeanine Swick

2024 – Jeanine Swick

Christina and John O'Halloran

2023 – Christina and John O’Halloran

Eric Cannon and Sue Kulinyi

2022 – Leslie L. Johnston

Eric Cannon and Sue Kulinyi

2021 – Kathleen and Philip Gust

2020 – Sally Fink

Carol Salemi

2019 – Carol Salemi

Elaine Mami

2018 – Elaine Mami

Eric Cannon and Sue Kulinyi

2017 – Eric Cannon and Sue Kulinyi

lisa ashton

2016 – Lisa Ashton

Kathy Bushman Sanders

2015 – Kathy Bushman Sanders

Ann Catelli

2014 – Ann Catelli

Dawn McKechnie

2013 – Dawn McKechnie

Tina Connell

2013 – Tina Connell

Penny Lipman

2012 – Penny Lipman

Jill Eastlake

2011 – Jill Eastlake

Bruce and Nora Mai

2010 – Bruce and Nora Mai

Bruce and Dana

2009 – Bruce and Dana MacDermott

Betsy Marks Delaney

2008 – Betsy Marks

Kevin Roche

2007 – Kevin Roche

Barb Schofield

2006 – Barb Schofield

Cat Devereaux

2005 – Cat Devereaux

Ricky Dick

2004 – Ricky Dick

Pat Kennedy

2004 – Pat Kennedy

Adrian Butterfield & Victoria Ridenour

2003 – Adrian Butterfield & Victoria Ridenour

Animal X

2001 – Animal X

Pierre & Sandy Pettinger

2000 – Pierre & Sandy Pettinger

Carl Mami

1999 – Carl Mami

Gary Anderson

1998 – Gary Anderson

Jacqui Ward

1997 – Jacqueline Ward

Byron Connell

1996 – Byron Connell

Karen

1995 – Karen Schnaubelt

Janet Anderson

1994 – Janet Wilson Anderson

Peggy Kennedy

1993 – Peggy Kennedy

Bro and John Trimble

1992 – Bjo & John Trimble

Marty Gear

1991 – Marty Gear

Marjii Ellers

1990 – Marjii Ellers

Photos courtesy of Pierre & Sandy Pettinger, Bruce & Nora Mai, Elaine & Carl Mami, John Upton, Richard Man, Jack Krolak, Ken Warren, Eric Brine, Chas Baden, and the Costume-Con web page. Also big thanks to Kevin Roche for digging through his collection for pictures of Peggy. And an even bigger thanks and incredible gratitude to Karen Schnaubelt and Ricky Dick for providing a number of the bios for recipients.