Our costume contest last year was a blast, so this year we’ve added even more categories and prizes. (Check out last year’s winners to see what kind of costumes won and why.)

Our prize fund is much bigger this year: a total of 12 Amazon gift certificates ($25 each) have been donated for the winners. That’s $300 in prizes! If we need to award second and third place prizes, those winners will receive a beautiful poster of their choice.

We’ve planned our prize levels based on last year’s winners, with a couple of extra prizes thrown in for better coverage.

So send in your pictures! Make ’em good, because it helps a lot when we’re judging the costumes. We’ll upload all the entries to our Facebook page.

The deadline for submissions is 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, November 9, 2014.

Here are the contest categories:

Regular Category Awards, Adult Division

These are only for costumes that appear or might appear on our website: goddesses or folklore figures, a great queen, an actual historical person, or a glamorous star. No generic costumes and no copyrighted characters (such as Batgirl or a Neil Gaiman character).

Best Goddess or Mythological Figure Costume = $25 Amazon gift certificate

Best Queen Costume = $25 Amazon gift certificate

Best Notable Woman Costume = $25 Amazon gift certificate

Best Glamour Grrl Costume = $25 Amazon gift certificate

Regular Category Awards, Junior Division

Exactly the same rules apply here as in the Adult Division. We’re not doing a Glamour Grrl award in this category because reasons.

Best Goddess or Mythological Figure Costume = $25 Amazon gift certificate

Best Queen Costume = $25 Amazon gift certificate

Best Notable Woman Costume = $25 Amazon gift certificate

Special Awards for Crafting and Creativity

Same rules in terms of which costumes we want to see, but these awards are to recognize special achievements in fabulousness. Check out last year’s winners and the full set of contest entries to see what we mean.

Most Resourcefully Ingenious Costume = $25 Amazon gift certificate
This category is for especially ingenious and resourceful homemade costumes.

Most Artistically Outstanding Costume = $25 Amazon gift certificate
This is a professional-level award to recognize incredible costumes by serious costumers and reenactors.

Most Hacktastic Costume by Maker Moms and Daughters = $25 Amazon gift certificate
This is for all the devoted moms out there who put together super-clever homemade costumes for their daughters.

New prize: Most Faithful Realization of a Take Back Halloween Design = $25 Amazon gift certificate
We’re always thrilled when we see costumes that look exactly like our design images; for examples, check out Ada Lovelace from last year or Freyja from the year before that.

New prize: Most Amazing Painting-Inspired Costume = $25 Amazon gift certificate
We were blown away last year by the gorgeous costumes based on famous paintings, from Alphonse Mucha’s beer ladies to portraits of the Blessed Virgin. This year we decided we’d have a prize just for that.

Exhibition Class Awards

Every year people send us amazing entries that either don’t really fall into our regular categories (copyrighted characters, for example) or are just something totally unexpected. That’s what this class is for. We will award poster prizes for the best costumes in this class; we won’t know how many or for what exactly until we see the entries.

Rules

1. The photo(s) must be of you or a friend or family member in costume. If the photo is of a friend or family member, you must obtain their permission to submit it. You’ll need to tell us their name as well as yours, and note what your relationship is (sister, daughter, etc.).
2. Except for the Exhibition Class entries, your costume must fall into one of our four categories: a notable woman from history, a queen, a glamorous star, a goddess or mythological figure.
3. Please tell us what the costume is, in case we are too dense to figure it out.
4. The costume may be from this year or any previous Halloween.
5. You may enter more than once, if you have multiple costumes you want to share.
6. By submitting your photo, you are giving us permission to publish it on the Take Back Halloween website and on our Facebook page. You can send in multiple photos if you’re not sure what the best one is or if you need several angles to reveal the full glory of the costume.
7. Submissions should be emailed to contest@takebackhalloween.org.
8. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, November 9, 2014.

We expect to publish the winners the week of November 16, 2014.

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