Arts & Sciences Competitions
The Barony of Adiantum is sponsoring five contests at Egil’s Tourney in 2025. All entries must have been made after Egil’s Tourney 2024 and be entered into a contest in person by the individual who made the entry. Here is the information about signing up for the contests.
General info about each contest and the judging form is further down the page. To ask questions, please contact Mistress Yseult of Broceliande at the event email egils@antor.org. Put “A&S Contests” in the subject line.
Costume Accessories & Decorated Useful Object
Sign up for these two contests on Friday from 4 – 8 pm and Saturday morning from 9 – 10 am. You will receive a time on Saturday for your judging appointment. All judging takes place in the tall day shade in the A&S area. Please bring your entry and documentation as well as seating. There will be a table to put your entry on. Announcement of the winners will be made at Sunday Prize Court (5 pm) and feedback for you from the judges will be available to pick up at the A&S headquarters pavilion after court.
A&S Display Sunday, 1-4 pm
We will be having a display of all the Costume and Decorated Useful Object contest entries on Sunday afternoon at the A&S headquarters pavilion. Please drop off your entry there between noon and 1 pm; you can pick it up between 4 and 5 pm.
Grain-Based Beverage Contest (AKA Brewing Contest)
Fermented Fruit or Honey Beverage (AKA the Wine / Mead / Cider Contest)
Infused Cordial Contest
Sign up for the three beverage contests on Friday from 4 – 8 pm and Saturday from 11 am – 4 pm. You will check back at A&S Sunday morning to get the time and place on Sunday afternoon for your judging appointment. All judging takes place in the A&S area. Please bring your entry and documentation as well as seating. There will be a table to put your entry on. Announcement of the winners will be made at Sunday Prize Court (5 pm) and feedback for you from the judges will be available to pick up at the A&S headquarters pavilion after court.
Costume Accessories Contest
One entry will consist of two accessories. A pair of shoes/footwear counts as one accessory. So, for example, you could enter a pair of shoes and a belt pouch. For this contest, accessories will include:
- head coverings (hats, coifs, veils, hoods, etc.),
- footwear (shoes, boots, pattens, etc.),
- pouches and bags (for the belt, carried, or over the shoulder),
- belts and other belt or body accessories (knife scabbard, sword hangers, belt-hung needle keepers, baldrics of bells, etc. as appropriate to the time/place you’re working with),
- other hand-held accessories (fans, pomanders, etc.)
This contest does not include jewelry or actual knives or swords. The focus is on the fabric or leather or the softer side of accessories (such as fans, etc.).
You need to bring documentation that shows that your entries are appropriate for the garb you are accessorizing. Show us what you found yourself that told you that this was a period appropriate item for your garb – style, materials, how it was worn.
Sign up for this contest on Friday from 4 – 8 pm and Saturday morning from 9 – 10 am. You will receive a time on Saturday for your judging appointment. All judging takes place in the tall day shade in the A&S area. Please bring your entry and documentation as well as seating. There will be a table to put your entry on. Announcement of the winners will be made at Sunday Prize Court (5 pm) and feedback for you from the judges will be available to pick up at the A&S headquarters pavilion after court.
The prize for this contest is one meter of 29” wide brocade from Sartor suitable for using as trim. From the Sartor website: “Silk blend brocade woven with gold, inspired by a [12th century] historical pattern from the Byzantine period. . . .Stunning brocade fabric made of genuine silk and rayon with a woven pattern.”
Decorated Useful Object Contest
This contest calls for a useful object appropriate for a pre-1600 culture to which you have added some form of decoration since May 2024. Extra consideration if you made the object as well. Please be prepared to explain the historical sources for the decoration on the object, how you may have adapted them for this application, and the materials and method you used to create the entry. Objects are portable items – but not clothing, not pavilions. They could include a pouch, musical instrument, scabbard, or weapon, a wooden, metal or ceramic item like a box or tool, tableware, etc. If in doubt, please ask! The decoration needs to have been done by the person entering the contest.
Sign up for this contest on Friday from 4 – 8 pm and Saturday morning from 9 – 10 am. You will receive a time on Saturday for your judging appointment. All judging takes place in the tall day shade in the A&S area. Please bring your entry and documentation as well as seating. There will be a table to put your entry on. Announcement of the winners will be made at Sunday Prize Court (5 pm) and feedback for you from the judges will be available to pick up at the A&S headquarters pavilion after court.
The prize for this contest is a sanded but otherwise unfinished horn donated by HL Alan Bowyer – another object for you to decorate!
Grain-Based Beverage Contest (AKA Brewing Contest)
We ask that you include some documentation of the existence of your type of entry in that historical period and be ready to explain any adaptations you have made to period techniques as you prepared your entry. You need to enter a bottle or large enough quantity that the judges can taste your entry several times in comparison with the other entries.
This is for a fermented beverage based on grain. Although this is traditionally a malted grain based drink like beer or ale made from barley or wheat, it could include fermented beverages made from other grains like rice, corn, teff, etc.
The prize is Patrick McGovern’s book Ancient Brews Rediscovered and Recreated and a ceramic bottle for your next brew.
Fermented Fruit or Honey Beverage (AKA the Wine or Mead Contest)
We ask that you include some documentation of the existence of your type of entry in that historical period and be ready to explain any adaptations you have made to period techniques as you prepared your entry. You need to enter a bottle or large enough quantity that the judges can taste your entry several times in comparison with the other entries.
This includes grape wines and honey mead as well as beverages made from other fermented fruits or combinations like blackberry mead, or fruit juice based wines that don’t include grapes. The prize is Patrick McGovern’s book Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture and a ceramic bottle for your next effort.
Infused Cordial Contest
We ask that you include some documentation of the existence of your type of entry in that historical period and be ready to explain any adaptations you have made to period techniques as you prepared your entry. You need to enter a bottle or large enough quantity that the judges can taste your entry several times in comparison with the other entries.
This is for a distilled spirit infused with flavoring(s). The prize is Lesley Jacobs Solomonson’s book Liqueur: A Global History and a handmade glass bottle from Spain for your next cordial.
Voyage Cooking Contest
Unfortunately, we have had to cancel the Voyage Cooking contest for this year.
JUDGING FOR THE A & S CONTESTS
Our contests will be judged using the following rubric. The rubric is also a great guide for you to use as you prepare your entry. It lets you know what you need to prepare.
Here is the judging form that we will adapt for each contest.
The current Kingdom A&S Judging Rubric and an introduction to it can be found at the url below. While it is differently arranged and more rigorous than our rubric, the comments about using a rubric are quite useful.
https://arts.antir.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Judging-Forms-Primer.pdf
http://arts.antir.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/A_S-Object-Rubric-11_7_17.pdf
A discussion of how to understand and use the older Kingdom A&S rubric can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HfFzikkkVY
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE A&S COMPETITIONS?
Please contact Mistress Yseult at egils@antir.org with “A&S” in the subject line.