The Finncon Masquerade takes place on Saturday 14 July at 4 pm at Natura lecture halls IX and X. The venue has a wheelchair access from the second floor entrance to lecture hall X. This playful contest is judged by our Guest of Honours and hosted by Jukka Särkijärvi.
To sign up, email sirpapahkuri(at)cms.finncon.org and include your contact details (name, date of birth, email address, and phone number) as well as the name and origin (tv series, book, etc.) of your character. The deadline for sign-ups is Friday the 13th of July!
You can take part alone or as a group and the costumes can be science fiction, fantasy, anime/manga or horror themed. Your characters can be original designs or be (loosely) based on a specific character from your favourite tv series or book. Originality and creativity can only give you bonus points! The costume should be self-made, but it can contain parts that have been bought, ergo it doesn’t have to be made from a scratch.
Props and weapon replicas: During the masquerade the contestant can carry and showcase a weapon that is a part of their costume. We ask the contestants to keep safety in mind and handle the weapon carefully during the show. Outside of the masquerade all weapon props must be kept in the cloakroom (see Code of conduct).
At the beginning of the masquerade the host will introduce the contestant and their character, the contestant will then come on stage, pose for the cameras and move aside to wait. At this point however, it is also possible to give a short performance, there can be some choreography but due to scheduling issues we hope that the performance will remain short. Due to copyright issues, the usage of background music is not possible.
The masquerade is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek and relaxed event where everyone is having fun. The contestants are given several prizes for multitude of reasons, e.g. the originality of the costume, the most magnificent headpiece or the best overall attitude. It is not necessary to be professional costume maker or veteran performer, the judges rate you on effort and imagination used.
The prizes will be awarded to the winners on Saturday night at 9pm at the official Finncon evening party at Panimoravintola Koulu. If there are minors among the winners, they will be awarded their prizes right after the show.
As usual, you can of course come to Finncon in costume without taking part in the masquerade.