ICG Masquerade Skill Divisions Tutorial

Excerpted from the ICG Masquerade Guidelines, 2021 Edition, available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook formats from the International Costumers’ Guild Press.

Reason for Skill Divisions

Competition with one’s peers is the cornerstone of fairness. We believe it is unreasonable for someone new to Masquerade costuming to compete for every award against costumers with years of Masquerade experience.

The ICG recommends a skill- and experience‐based division of Masquerade entrants into competition groups (Skill Divisions) to ensure that both novice and experienced costumers have a reasonably equal chance to win the Major and Competitive awards given in Masquerades.

The Skill Division System is not intended to provide recognition; the awards themselves do that. The Division System exists merely to promote fairness. Outside of any single competition, Skill Division ranking is meaningless.

Once again: Skill Divisions are intended to make each competition fairer; they are not an earned rank system administered by any authority.

The ICG has chosen a three‐tier Skill Division system for large international competitions. If a competition is smaller or draws a narrower range of skills and experience, the Skill Division system may be adapted as appropriate. At one time, the ICG suggested an additional level between the middle and top Skill Divisions; that level was eliminated in the 2006 revision of these Guidelines.

For historical reasons, these Skill Divisions are referred to as Novice, Journeyman, and Master. To avoid confusion with the classifications used by professional Costumers Unions, some Masquerade Directors prefer to use terms such as Beginner- Intermediate-Experienced, Novice-Intermediate-Open, or variations thereof instead.

The Basics

The Novice Division exists to encourage people who are new to costuming and Masquerades to compete.

The Journeyman Division is an intermediate Division for costumers who have consistently won awards in the Novice Division, but who feel they are not yet ready to compete in the Master Division.

The Master Division is open to any costumer who wishes to enter.

It is considered good practice for Masquerade Directors to require anyone who is a known professional in the field, or has had exceptional success in past Masquerades, to enter as a Master in competition.

The ICG has also defined a Junior/Youth Division so young costumers who participate in the design and construction of their own costumes need not compete against adults unless they wish to.

The ICG has not defined a fixed age range for competition in a Junior/Youth Division, as such a determination should be at the discretion of the Masquerade Director. In some Masquerades, it is commonly accepted that a person who has not yet reached the age of majority would be considered in such a category unless they wish to compete in any higher category; however, in most ICG-style Masquerades, the age limit is 13, because that is the age at which an ICG member may vote on ICG-related business.

For many Masquerades, a simple two‐tier system comprised of “Novice” and “Experienced” can be adequate and fair. Again, each Masquerade Director should consider what is most appropriate to their Masquerade.

Determining a Costumer’s Placement in the Division System

The Skill Divisions are designed to protect less experienced entrants from being forced into competition against more experienced costumers before they are ready. Each Division is defined in terms of restrictions.

As there is no committee or organization that tracks all costumers’ wins for placement purposes, an entrant’s placement in any Division is based on a combination of the honor system and the Masquerade Director’s discretion.

As mentioned above, the scope of each competition may be taken into consideration when weighing the awards a costumer has received in previous competitions.

We offer the following suggested restrictions on who may not enter in each Division:

Master

Any costumer may enter in the Master Division.
This is the Division where professional costumers should compete.

Journeyman

Professional costumers may not enter in the Journeyman Division.
An entrant who has competed and won in the Master Division in a competition of equal or larger scope may not enter in the Journeyman Division.
An entrant who has won “Best in Show” or “Best Journeyman” in a competition of equal or larger scope may not enter in the Journeyman Division. and should compete in the Master Division.
An entrant who has won more than three major awards in the Journeyman Division in a competition of equal or larger scope may not enter in the Journeyman Division.
Awards won at competitions of smaller scope 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.

Novice

Professional costumers may not enter in the Novice Division.
An entrant who has competed and won in any Division other than Novice in a competition of equal or larger scope may not enter in the Novice Division.
An entrant who has won a Competitive Award (Best in Show, Best in Division) in a competition of equal or larger scope may not enter in the Novice Division.
An entrant who has won numerous major awards in the Novice Division in competitions of similar scope is encouraged to enter in the Journeyman Division.
Awards won at competitions of smaller scope may be counted towards Division placement at the discretion of the costumer and the Masquerade Director.
Minor awardsmay be counted towards placement at the discretion of the costumer.

Competing Up and Other Considerations

Costumers may always choose to compete in a higher (less restricted) Division than their previous awards indicate or in which the Masquerade Director has placed them. They may not choose to compete in a lower (more restricted) Division.

Major awards given in jest are only counted at the discretion of the costumer. Such awards should be counted if the presentation in question was intentionally comic.

If a costumer has won multiple awards for the same entry, only the highest award should be considered towards placement (see Judging Guidelines). For example, if all awards from multiple Masquerades won by an entry are minor awards, the entrant should count one minor award. If they have won multiple major awards for that entry, the entrant should count one major award. The next section (on Entering a Costume in Multiple Competitions) discusses some other important considerations on a costume which has received multiple awards.

Entering a Costume in Multiple Competitions

It is considered unsporting to enter a costume that has won a major award in a larger Masquerade with relatively stiff competition at a smaller Masquerade with less competition in the same Skill Division. Fairness concerns about repeat entries may be offset if the costumer is willing to enter the costume in a more experienced Skill Division.

Costumes may be entered in more than one competition under the following circumstances:

A costume that has not won an award in competition may be entered in another Masquerade.
A costume that has won a major award may be entered again in a competition of similar size at the discretion of the Masquerade Director (usually if the audience, judges, and slate of entries are significantly different).
A costume that has won a major award in competition may be entered again in a larger competition.
A costume that has won a major award in competition may be entered again in a higher Skill Division.
A costume that has won a major award in competition may be entered in exhibition (not judged in competition).

A costume that has won a Competitive Award (such as Best in Show or Best in Division) in an international-scope competition should not be entered in competition at any other Masquerade. (See Judging Guidelines.)

If the Masquerade Director determines it would not be fair to enter a costume in competition in any Skill Division, we recommend the Director consider encouraging the entrant to show the costume in exhibition (not judged in competition).