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The Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball at BayCon 97



 The ball will be held Saturday, May 24th, in the upstairs ballroom (AKA the Thunderbird Ballroom) of the Red Lion hotel in San Jose, CA. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. The costume contest will start at 9:30 p.m. (Please see the contest guidelines, below.)
 There will be a large dance floor and dancing from the time the doors open until late (pausing at 9:30 for the costume contest). The DJ for the masquerade ball is Lunatic E'Sex -- please send all song requests (for both the masquerade ball and the Sunday night dance) to:
dj@baycon.org

The music style will be heavily influenced by the early 80's ("New Wave"), with lots of "alternative" music and "club hits" from then up to today. Don't be surprised to find the odd track from the 70's or 60's, though, as well as all of the fannish favorites ("Rasputin" at 11:00 p.m., "Time Warp" [full-length movie version, not edited soundtrack version] at 12:00 midnight, plus more), and occasional surprises.
For more information about BayCon 97, including the full text of the first two Progress Reports and the daily program schedules for all four days (Friday-Monday), our E-mail: info@baycon.org

The following information supercedes all prior information published in Progress Reports or elsewhere.
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BayCon '97 Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball

Guidelines, Categories, and Information

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Since the Masquerade Ball is a little different than the traditional Masquerade as it is usually known, we thought it would be a good idea to publicize some guidelines.
The awards will be given in the following Categories:

Best Novice (and runner-up) - For our purposes, anyone who has won an award for costuming does not qualify as a novice.

Best Workmanship (and runner-up) - This award shall be given to the Creator of the costume, if different from the person wearing it.

Best Journeyman Class

Best Master Class

In addition, the Bay Area Costumer's Guild will be awarding their Best Newcomer Award. This award will not discriminate based on number of years costuming -- sometimes the award goes to a brand-new costumer, sometimes to someone who's just new to competition.

Important Point:
Awards will ONLY be given in the above categories, with ONE possible exception: In the event that a great number of entrants all are costumed in the same "Theme", a special category MAY be created. For example, the year Ghostbusters came out, 5 separate groups were entrants at a local convention, all as the full cast of the movie - a special Best Ghostbusters award was given.

Another Important Point:
If a particular costume has won an award previously at BayCon, it is not eligible to compete for awards in this year's competition. We do welcome exhibition entrants, however. For any entrants that will need a technical rehearsal, it is ESSENTIAL that you contact us as soon as possible. We are planning a VERY BRIEF run-through shortly before the doors open, and since this is a more casual affair than the traditional Masquerade, we are trying to limit the level of complication. Please try to avoid any extremely elaborate productions, keep in mind the casual nature of the evening.

Please send the following information to the addresses below:

Costume Title:

Source (or is this an original?):

Designed by:

Constructed by:

Worn by:

Please give us an idea of how much experience you have with costuming in general, and competition in particular:

Are you Novice, Journeyman or Master class?

Have you ever won an award at BayCon?

Any special details? (Would you like the MC to say something special? Will this be a group "sketch" kind of presentation? Is your vision going to be impaired? Will you need any sort of special assistance?)

Your Contact Information (E-mail addresses highly encouraged):

There will be a poster at the Information Booth with the time for the tech run-through, a late registrant entry box, copies of these guidelines, and further information should it be necessary.

Our contact information is:

Magpie7905@aol.com (Cheri, the organizer) or snail mail care of:

BayCon '97
PO Box 610427
San Jose, CA 95161-0427