PREFACE

Mission

The members of the International Costumers’ Guild, Inc. (ICG) have developed these Masquerade Guidelines to promote fairness and equity in Masquerade competition and judging. The ICG Guidelines are rooted in decades of our members’ experience as costumed participants, judges, producers, and directors of such competitions. We hope these Guidelines will help make both novice and accomplished costumers’ experiences with Masquerade competition and costuming more comfortable and enjoyable.

Context

The purpose of these Guidelines is to assist Masquerade Directors in writing and implementing rules to ensure fair competition in the Masquerades they run, and to provide a resource for ensuring that all aspects of a successful Masquerade are covered. These Guidelines have been developed to serve international^[*] Masquerade competitions, but they may be adapted and applied when writing rules for any costume competition at any convention.

While Masquerade Directors are our intended primary audience, any participant (costumer, crew member, or judge) in any Masquerade can benefit from reviewing these Guidelines.

Revision History

These Guidelines began with the ICG’s formal ratification of what we now call the Skill Division System, which Peggy Kennedy first debuted at the 1981 Denver World Science Fiction Convention. The Division System was originally designed to encourage fairer competition amongst a field of entries of widely varying skill and experience, as were the resulting ICG Guidelines. The first version of these ICG Guidelines was adopted May 24, 1992 and was subsequently amended February 21, 1994, May 26, 2006, and January 20, 2010.

In the intervening years, members of the ICG have gained additional experience in running, judging, and entering Masquerades, and this revision is intended to incorporate “best practices” based on that experience.

This revision, adopted on April 25, 2021,  is intended to be a living document, reflecting members’ continuing experience with the art of Masquerade Costuming (as recognized by the Library of Congress and other national collections) in all its forms.

Inquiries

Inquiries or concerns about and suggestions for modifications to the Guidelines may be directed to guidelines@costume.org. Your input is valued; your correspondence will be referred to the appropriate members of the Guidelines committee for review and consideration.

* Any competition that draws both entrants and audience from outside the host country can be considered an international competition. (See the section on Scope of Competition.)