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Balloon Dress and Costume Competition Rules

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Twist & Shout’s annual Balloon Dress and Costume Competition is a unique and special event. It is both the convention’s Thursday night entertainment and a coveted competition. The evening is the world’s best balloon fashion/costume show, and always showcases new and diverse balloon wearables. Parts of the evening are designed to produce an excellent night of entertainment, and parts are designed to facilitate a fair competition. Every year the show is different, but it is always a lot of fun for the contestants and inspirational for the audience.

 

Rules for Voters

Fully-registered attendees of T&S cast 1 vote in the "People’s Choice" Category after the show.

 

Rules for Contestants

  1. Each contestant in the Balloon Dress and Costume Competition must be a fully registered attendee of Twist & Shout Balloon Convention.

  2. The number of competitors in each category is limited to twelve (12), on a first come first serve basis.

    • The stage management team retains the discretion to further limit the number, or allow additional entrants, as circumstances dictate.

  3. Competitors may only enter one piece in each category.

  4. You may perform as a team, but only one registrant can be considered the contestant for scoring and award purposes.

  5. All Competitors must submit a competition entry form no later than 12pm on Thursday to Patty or the show management.

  6. All competitors are responsible for finding their own models

  7. Score sheets will be available to competitors after the awards are announced Saturday night.

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Rule for Dresses and Costumes

  1. The competition consists of two separate categories, one exclusively for balloon dresses, one for balloon costumes.

  2. At least 75% of the dress or costume must be made of balloons.

  3. All designs must be appropriate for all audiences.

  4. Bodypaint, makeup, and accessories will be allowed, but will not be considered by the judges.

  5. The organizer will determine the performance order after the dress rehearsal.

  6. Each dress and costume must walk the stage displaying their piece in succession according to the determined order.

  7. If the competitor is not prepared to display when their time is due that participant will be disqualified.

  8. All Competitors and their models should arrive backstage by 5:00pm to prepare for the show.

  9. All competitors must be backstage, fully dressed, and ready to be judged by 5:30pm. 

  10. All competitors must participate in the dress rehearsal from 6pm-7pm. 

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Guidelines

  1. Artists may provide the MC a short written introduction or suggestions of phrases for their intros.

  2. A sound system will be provided with standard audio inputs. If you have your own music, please have your sound file ready before the tech rehearsal on a USB drive or portable audio device.

  3. Stage lighting will be provided.

  4. The performing area will be raised platform with pipe and drape and/or a balloon backdrop and wings. There will be steps on either side of the stage. Make sure that your piece can get on and off of the stage.

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Judging:

  1. Seven judges will be selected by the convention organizers. They will be a mix of balloon professionals, lay persons, and/or fashion and entertainment industry professionals.

  2. The judges are expected to act impartially and to advise if there is a conflict of interest.

  3. The judges will score each dress on a 90-point scale:

    1.    Proportions and Scale

    2.    Use of Color

    3.    Originality

    4.    Details

    5.    Overall Visual Appeal and Appearance

    6.    Wearability (ability of models to walk, move, etc)

  4. Additionally, the stage management team will award up to 10 points total for professionalism. These points are easy to earn!

    1. Information: Provided before arrival or at Registration on arrival to convention, the performer will submit their competitor information sheet (including cast size), a working music file, and a list of props and set advising on the approximate space required (5 points) 

    2. Tech Rehearsal: arrive on time for the tech rehearsal (2 points); Competitors that do not come to the tech rehearsal are disqualified

    3. Show night, arrive for prepared by call time (3 points

5. Fully-registered attendees in the audience cast 1 vote in the "People’s Choice" category.

6. The People’s Choice award will be open for voting at the end of the show for 30-minutes.

 

The Awards:

  1. For each competitor, the highest scoring and lowest scoring judge sheet will be discarded, and the sum total of the remaining 5 score sheets will be tallied.

  2. The votes of the judges will be added up and three prizes will be given:

    1. First Place, to the competitor that receives the highest total score.

    2. Second Place, to the competitor that receives the second highest score.

    3. Third Place, to the competitor that receives the third highest score.

  3. The decision of the judges is final.

  4. In the event of a tie, the judges will reconvene to break the tie.

  5. The People’s Choice award will be given to the competitor with the most number of votes by the attendees.

  6. Balloon Dress and Costume competition awards will be announced at the Saturday night banquet.

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