Masquerade
Welcome to the Rules and Regulations for Orycon’s Final Masquerade, hosted by Direbrook and Pocket Dimension Productions
Eligibility:
- All participants must have a valid ticket to Orycon 2025.
- Participants must agree to read and follow all Orycon rules and regulations.
- By registering for the masquerade, all participants agree to allow Orycon to use their images for promotional purposes, including all photographs and video.
How to Enter:
- The Participant application will be available online until midnight on Friday of the convention (October 17th 2025)
- YOU MUST COMPLETE THE ONLINE APPLICATION TO PARTICIPATE
- You will need to sign up for a costume pre-judging time in person at the Info Booth/Registration on Friday/Saturday
General Information:
Orycon’s Masquerade is an all ages event so please keep that in mind when planning your costumes and performances. If you are unsure if your costume is appropriate please ask the Coordinator(s) before the event: direbrook.mainevents@gmail.com
- No Offensive language will be tolerated. ex: racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ect…
- NO NUDITY
- No illegal weapons of any kind. All other weapons must be peace bonded and the participant must agree to adhere to Orycon’s weapon policy.
For Safety reasons the following are not allowed:
- No Pyrotechnics or projectiles of any kind.
- No live animals except service animals are permitted.
- No messy substances- wet, dry, or oily- that may damage another participant’s costume or hotel space including the stage.
- No jumping on or off the stage. Use the official stage entrances and exits.
All costumes with electric power need to be self-contained. There will be no access to electrical outlets on stage.
All special effects (ex. strobe lights, fog, etc.) must be approved by the Masquerade Coordinator prior to the contest. The Masquerade Coordinator has the right to deny requests due to safety concerns or building regulations.
Surprise the audience, not the staff. If you are planning something completely different, let us know well in advance. All information will be held in the strictest confidence.
Purchased or rented costumes may not be entered into craftsmanship judging, the entrant must have made or modified at least 50% of the costume themselves. You may have someone else model your costume as long as you are in attendance at pre-judging.
Costumes that have won “Best in Show” or “Best in Category” awards in a larger contest may not be entered for craftsmanship judging at Orycon.
Performances that have won “Best in Show” or “Best in Category” awards in another contest may not be entered at Orycon.
All costumes must be finished prior to the tech rehearsal and judging. Final assembly of large costumes and props and or unexpected, emergency repairs will be allowed.
No costume that has been judged in a prior year for workmanship may be judged again without a significant change. Only the new change to the costume will be judged.
All judge’s decisions are final.
The Contest Director has the right to eliminate any entry from the competition on the basis of taste, danger to the audience, building or you, violation of any of the above rules, or any other reason deemed sufficient. There will be no appeal.
AWARDS:
Judges Choice: Given at the Judges Discretion
Craftsmanship: Best Novice, Best Journeyman, Best Master
Performance: Best Comedy, Best Drama, Best Performance
Best In Show – Must participate in Craftsmanship AND Performance to be eligible.
Craftsmanship:
To ensure that Entrants with limited experience do not compete with Entrants with more experience, skill divisions have been established as such:
- Novice: Entrants with limited craftsmanship experience, first time competitors, and anyone who has not won two or more major awards (Best in Show, Best in Division) in a craftsmanship competition.
- Journeyman: Entrants with significant costume and/or stage experience. An entrant who has won 3 or more major awards (Best in Show, Best in Division) in competitions of similar scope is encouraged to enter in the Journeyman Division at Direbrook.
- Master: Entrants with extensive experience, several craftsmanship awards, professionals, or persons who make their living making clothing or costumes compete as a Master. An entrant who has won more than three major awards (Best in Show, Best in Division) at the Journeyman level in a competition of equal or larger scope as Orycon’s should compete as a Master.
For group entries, the division should be that of the highest-ranking member of the group. For very large groups, please ask the Masquerade Director for assistance in choosing a division. Winning ‘Best of Show’ at any large regional convention moves an entrant up to the next skill division. Judges Choice awards or Honorable Mentions do not count as Best in Class awards.
Performances:
Performances may be up to 3 minutes long and MUST BE PRE-RECORDED. We will NOT be providing live microphones to the contestants.
Audio must be submitted at the time of application in .mp3 format. Any changes must be made before online submissions close by contacting direbrook.mainevents@gmail.com
If you are ONLY entering Performance you do NOT need to be craftsmanship judged.
All performances will be judged at the same level.
Judging:
Entrants will be judged for their costume craftsmanship before the on stage presentation, costumers will be judged on their skill in the construction of their costume, techniques used, cleanliness, storytelling, ect….
Performances will be judged on storytelling, stage presence, entertainment value, ect…
Each entry will have 5 minutes with the judges to tell them about your costume(s) large groups may be given more time if scheduling allows. If you are recreating a costume from another source (anime, book covers, movie characters, etc.) please bring a copy picture of the source image.
Walk-ons (Craftsmanship only) will have up to 90 seconds on stage to show off their costume while the MC narrates. If you do not submit any audio for your walk-on, we will select generic background music for you to walk to.
Tech Rehearsal:
Attendance at tech rehearsal is mandatory. Please check the convention schedule for exact time and location.
Walk-ons (craftsmanship only) will have a chance to walk the stage and get a feel for the space before the show. Any interaction you would like to have with the MC needs to be noted in the script you provide. If you want the MC to read a description of your costume, please write out exactly what you want the MC to say. A written pronunciation should be provided for any hard to pronounce or fantasy words/names.
Performances will have a full run through on the stage (time allowing.) Please bring all props and sets to rehearsal as well as a back up of your audio on a thumbdrive (just in case). Any introduction for the MC should be included in your application.
Please be on time and come prepared to your Tech Rehearsal, depending on the number of entrants, we may have limited time to spend with each entrant and want to give each one our full attention.
If you have any questions or concerns about the Masquerade please ask us at direbrook.mainevents@gmail.com