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Joint Statement from Anime Los Angeles 2007 Masquerade and Hall Cosplay Competition staff.

Equal enforcement of the masquerade rules is the cornerstone of fair competition.

Entry number 20, "Stephane Kohlwey" has been disqualified from the Anime Los Angeles 2007 masquerade competition for violating the rules, and her Workmanship Award for "Excellence in Leather Bodice Work" is hereby revoked.

Rule #1 of the masquerade is All contestants must be attending members of Anime Los Angeles. If the maker and presenter are different people, both must be attending members. Purchased and rented costumes may not be entered.

The bodice and skirt combo that was the most prominent piece of clothing in the entry was purchased from "Leg Avenue Costumes" and is their "FAUX LEATHER UNDERWIRE LACE UP SIDE BUSTIEA LONG GOWN" (sic). We have decided that adding streamers to the skirt and a line of trim to the bottom of the bodice were not significant enough modifications to comply with the rules.

Since the workmanship award was specifically for work on the bodice, we contacted the workmanship judges. They stated that the entrant had claimed the bodice as her own work.

[livejournal.com profile] neo_serenity, head of Hall Cosplay Awards, received the same complaint and requested the results of our investigation, which we provided. Because the contestant also misrepresented the bodice to [livejournal.com profile] neo_serenity as her own work, her Hall Cosplay Award has been revoked too.


entry #20 entry #20
Official photograph of Entry #20
FAUX LEATHER UNDERWIRE LACE UP SIDE BUSTIEA LONG GOWN. Leg Avenue "FAUX LEATHER UNDERWIRE LACE UP SIDE BUSTIEA LONG GOWN."
This can be found on "page 12" of the "Fairy Tale" section of the Leg Avenue Costumes website.

Date: 2007-02-02 03:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] esprix.livejournal.com
Holy frell. :(

Date: 2007-02-02 03:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] esprix.livejournal.com
By the way, how are you finding out about all this stuff after the fact?

Date: 2007-02-02 03:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kproche.livejournal.com
We started hearing rumblings about this one on Sunday, but no one would actually come to us about it. Gossip via LJ doesn't count.

We put the word out that if anyone had a complaint and evidence, to email us at the masquerade address. Someone finally did.


The other one was the result of the guilty party posting about it herself in an LJ comment. Go figure.

Date: 2007-02-02 03:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] esprix.livejournal.com
I saw that one. But at least she 'fessed up and admitted she made a mistake and took her lumps.

What was this second disqualification's reaction?

Date: 2007-02-02 03:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kproche.livejournal.com
When we asked, she admitted she'd bought it and claimed she didn't realize that was a problem...

But as Andy noted, she represented to the judges and on her paperwork that it was an original design she had made.

In any case, the DQ and voiding of her award were all we could do.

Date: 2007-02-02 03:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kproche.livejournal.com
When we asked, she admitted she'd bought it and claimed she didn't realize that was a problem...

But as Andy noted, she represented to the judges and on her paperwork that it was an original design she had made.

In any case, the DQ and voiding of her award were all we could do.

Date: 2007-02-02 02:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] esprix.livejournal.com
It's enough. You did the right thing.

Date: 2007-02-02 05:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] karisu-sama.livejournal.com
She told us, to our faces "how she made" the bodice, particularly "how hard it was to stitch the underwire part" and other "construction details". Pretty blatant lying to our faces. Hoshikage, my husband (who was taking official photos) and I all heard her say this, so to claim when confronted that "oops, she didn't realize a bought slightly (VERY slightly) modified item was a problem" when she'd told us "construction details"..... uh, yeah.

"Liar liar pants on fire."

Date: 2007-02-02 02:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] esprix.livejournal.com
Outright lying? Yeah, that's definitely a problem.

*sigh* It's a shame when stuff like this happens.

Date: 2007-02-02 04:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lilacwire.livejournal.com
My jaw dropped when I read this. Literally. *boggle*

Date: 2007-02-02 06:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladyaxum.livejournal.com
yeah I am right there with you, I just dont understand it. I mean, if you didnt make it and you get an award for it how can you feel proud about that award?

Date: 2007-02-03 07:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jadeprince.livejournal.com
Does this never happen to other masquerades, or is ALA the only one to catch/do something about it? *sad*

(This is Jess from GomuGomu at ALA. Karisu invited us to crash your ALA room party this year. Hope you don't mind me adding you. You guys talked us into going to CostumeCon 2008! *Looking forward to it*)

Date: 2007-02-03 08:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kproche.livejournal.com
This is the first time in our experience of entering, running and judging masquerades.

There have been occasions when I've bumped someone into a higher skill division, and one case of a Worldcon award-winning costume being entered in a local masquerade (we bumped it into exhibition). But nothing like this.

One reason we were asked to do ALA's masquerade was because of increasing complaints about inconsistent, unfair or partisan judging and operations; we wanted to show cosplayers what a well run masquerade with strong fairness built into it feels like it. Maybe it just flushed out the bad behavior that wasn't being noticed before.

As [livejournal.com profile] bovil pointed out, though, 2 people out of 116 across the stage is a small percentage.

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