Out and About

This winter we’ve been to PawCon and Furcon, and I’m currently in Boston as the Hal Clement Science Speaker (science GoH) at Boskone 61. Next weekend I will be in Los Angeles for Gallifrey One, and have been building a Tron:Legacy-inspired hall costume for that. I’m also deep into a build for the Historical Masquerade at Costume-Con 42.

If you are interested in seeing the build process for either of those projects, I’ve resurrected my Twisted Image website and you can see them at https://twistedimage.com/closet/build-diaries/. Note: The CC42 project has a simple password for entry to avoid spoilers for judges (or anyone who wants to be surprised with its reveal at Costume-Con).

Annual Meeting at Costume-Con

In about seven weeks is Costume-Con 42 in Colorado, where we will be holding our Annual Meeting on Friday March 29th. If you are attending CC42, please do take time to attend the meeting; this is your opportunity to elect our board officers and vote on any business before the membership. We may have a new set of governing documents to approve, or at very least to learn about their progress.

That weekend I will also be announcing the recipient(s)* of the 2024 ICG Lifetime Achievement Award

About the ICG Lifetime Achievement Award Process

The gallery of recipients of the LAA (https://costume.org/wp/icg-lifetime-achievement-award/) describes its intent and the rules for nominations, but the actual selection process is somewhat buried in our governing documents (SR 21, to be precise), so in case you’ve ever wondered, here is how it works:

  • Administration: the entire LAA selection process is administered by the current President of the International Costumers Guild.
  • Nomination: a nomination may be nominated by any member, Chapter or Special Interest Group (SIG) in good standing by sending it to the President.
    Nominations may be submitted at any time, but a nomination for a particular year’s award must be received no later than 60 days before the Annual Meeting.
    Practically, this means that the board and members will receive a reminder from the President roughly 90 days before the meeting of that nomination deadline
  • Ballot: The President then assembles a ballot of all the nominated members as well as a packet of any supporting information supplied by the nominators, and distributes it to the electing officers (I am currently in the middle of that process).
  • Election: the ballot is distributed to all chapter presidents and the corporate officers. They are asked to indicate their preferences and return them to the President by 30 days before the Annual Meeting. The rules require a majority (not just a plurality), so the vote is done as a ranked choice (instant run-off) ballot. On occasion, it may take several stages of elimination through those ranked choices to achieve a result.
  • Award: presuming there is a majority, the name(s)* are supplied to a trusted agent to have the award plaque prepared for the announcement and presentation at Costume-Con. (We then proceed to the annual cat-herding that is attempting to photograph all the LAA recipients on site at the event for a “class picture”)

*The LAA has on occasion been presented to a couple, hence the singular/plural construction.

Hope to see lots of you at Costume-Con 42!

Kevin Roche
President, International Costumers Guild