Photo we took at the prejudging
Salt Lake Comic Con is the third largest con in the US. The cosplay contest equally as large. I entered my Sanctuary Base Space Suit last year and didn’t make it to the stage round, so I was really thrilled this year when my Missy/Cyberman made it past the prejudging (done the week before) and onto the big stage.
The cosplay contest was on the final evening of the con and we had spent all day at the con so by the time the contest rolled around we were already pretty exhausted. The cyberman isn’t very user friendly to wear (you can really only wear it for about an hour before it’s too much) so we didn’t wear it to con that day. So that meant a long walk to the car to get the cyberman (which fills a large lawn bag) and then a long walk to a bathroom to get the thing on. It was comical really. My daughter would hand pieces of her Mandilorian over the stall to me and then I’ll hand back pieces of the cyberman over the stall wall to her.
Then the nervous standing and waiting. It’s fun to talk to the people around you and look at their amazing costumes, but also a little intimidating because they all look so good. But there is a feeling that you’ve found kindred spirits because you have so much in common.
Waiting for the contest to begin.
Then comes your few minutes on stage, they play the music and you have about a minute to pose and smile and move in a way to show your cosplay in the best light. My daughter and I didn’t practice in advance (we didn’t really know what to expect) but we came up with a little skit of sorts where the cyberman walked in a straight line and Missy danced around him with her umbrella. I have no idea how it looked or if it worked but people clapped and told us we did a good job (the contest is online somewhere but I don’t have the guts to watch it). 
In the end we were called up to receive an award and I was totally shocked! There were so many good costumes there, I didn’t expect to win anything. Then the awards for our category were called – Third, Second, First, and my name wasn’t called at all. So I thought that it was probably a mistake. But then at the very end we were called to the stage and given the “Judges Choice” award. We took a bow at center stage and everyone clapped. It was really fun and a thrill.
Here is a collage of some of the other people who we were competing against that day to give you an idea of the amazing talent.
Out of the Din 