Technically, there were costume contests. The first contests were for King and Queen of the Ball, each with a $500 top prize.

I didn't get to see those contests because I was in line offstage, but I'm sure they were very dignified.

And then it was onto the main contest, with two rounds of semi-final costumes on stage.

From left to right, I think these were Alien, Devil, Headless Bride, Frankenstein, Hulk Hogan,  and little Red Riding Hood.

The Q-tip is the Emcee.

I was in the second set of semi-final costumes, including the Viking couple, Adam and Eve, Darth Vader and the External Organ.

Here is a better photo of the Alien, with his tail above Eve's Head.

Four semi-finalists were chosen by crowd response: the Alien, Adam and Eve, The External Organ and myself, the Fandango Hand Puppet.

The Ski boat dude got into some trouble. Because he was on wheels, and couldn't take the main stairs onto the stage, he had to cart himself around to the ramp on the exit side of the stage. I think he actually missed the semi-final round and skipped right to the finals, but this meant that his boat hadn't been given any attention by the crowd until he was on stage for final voting. Furthermore, he was positioned at the crippling left hand side of the stage, where the crowd would not have time to anticipate voting for him.

I, on the other hand, marched directly to the far right hand side of the stage, where the audience would have the most time to anticipate cheering for me.

Judging progressed from left to right.

The boat got a big cheer, but not at all what he deserved. The Alien got a better response, and the crowd flattened a little for Adam and Eve. The External Organ did a little dance and got a huge cheer from the crowd!

Finally, the emcee announced "FANDANGO!" and the crowd went crazy! I was jumping up and down, flapping my lips and trying to get my eyes to google.

The emcees took a moment and then announced the winners! Alien won $500 third prize, The External Organ won $1,000 second, and FANDANGO won the $2,500 FIRST PRIZE!

Hooray! We all three winners jumped around like idiots on stage!  After hopping around for a few victory laps, we were escorted offstage to sign some paperwork.

Damn! It felt great to be a crowd favorite, to be on stage and to win! 

I can't wait to buy those 22" plasma flatscreen rims for my car, and I can't wait for next year!