Pre-judging

Pre-judging is the private session before a masquerade where judges inspect your costume up close and ask how you made it.

Pre-judging is a scheduled, usually brief, one-on-one or small-group meeting between you and the contest judges that happens backstage or in a separate room before the main masquerade show begins. Because the stage presentation moves quickly, pre-judging gives judges the time to look at your work from every angle, check seams, examine surface detail, and ask how you constructed the costume. Your answers help them understand choices that might not be visible at a glance, such as whether you drafted a pattern from scratch or engineered a structural underframe. Most competitions assign you a specific time slot, so arriving early and having your costume fully assembled is important. Judges may ask about the materials you used, any techniques you taught yourself, and roughly how long the project took. Being ready to talk through your process clearly and honestly is just as valuable as the finished piece itself.