Mockingjay.net’s 2011 Hunger Games Costume Contest Winners

Halloween has come and gone, but these photos will live forever! After browsing through a whopping 125 awesome Hunger Games themed Halloween costumes, Kimmy and I wrung our hands over how to pick just three winners from this amazing batch. The winners are revealed under the cut, but I wanted to first explain why the winners are determined strictly by judging and not by an online poll.

I’ve run contests like these for several years and in the past, had thought it to be a great thing to let a community determine the winners of a fabulously creative contest. However, the biggest downside to a community poll is that it then turns the contest from a celebration of creativity into a popularity contest. Whoever has the most Facebook friends, Twitter followers, co-workers, and family members can go online and get anyone and everyone to go vote for them and in most cases, these people have no real idea what they’re voting on except for the person they know. I’ve had contestants post flyers trying to bring in more votes!

Hopefully this sheds some light on the process for you guys! Now… on to the winners!

Those of you that browsed through the entries probably heard a thud when your jaw hit the floor after seeing this one. I say that because that’s what happened to me. Our grand prize winner, hands down, is Jessica for her costume of Katniss’ Wedding Dress.

 

You can click the image to enlarge it. How did Jessica achieve this amazing look?

“It was constructed using a vintage wedding dress base, to which I added a layer of fiery fabric to imitate the dress in flames, then black feather boas for the black feathers. I also added the sheer sleeves and veil piece as well. I’m not sure if it’s visible, but there are also faux pearls strung along the neckline.”

Thanks to you, Jessica, for stunning us. I wouldn’t be surprised if soon we see the ultimate Hunger Games fan getting married in a replica of your fantastic dress! Jessica wins a Hot Topic shirt, a Comic Con mockingjay pin, and a Hunger Games movie poster!

For first place, we were drawn to this pretty, sparkly interview dress by Elaine:

 

Elaine’s beautiful Girl on Fire dress was made with a whole lot of glitter!

“Using glitter on a black formal dress I recreated Katniss’ Interview dress, I started with red on the bottom and moved to orange and gold on top to give the dress an illusion of having tiny stones the made up a flame design.  I wore my hair off to the side with a red ribbon wove into it and used gold body glitter.  [I] wanted something pretty, so what better way to do that than to make the sparkling interview dress!”

You look amazing Elaine! For taking first place, Elaine wins a Comic Con mockingjay pin and a Hunger Games movie poster.

With 74 people dressing up as Katniss in the Arena, it seemed ridiculous not to have at least one of them win and so, last but not least, we have our second place winner, Chris.

Click to enlarge the photo. We chose Chris for her great photos and attention to detail, particularly her orange backpack, the socks she got from Rue to warm her hands, her general grubbiness, and the cuts on her face. All in all, we felt this was a really great representation of Katniss fighting for her life. Chris used:

“A simple green blouse, tawny pants, one leg cut off at the knee (because of the burn on Katniss’s calf), black jacket, cut off just below the rib cage (after the fireballs singed it), comfortable boots with good tread, sturdy brown belt, socks with holes for fingers (Katniss took them from Rue’s pack after she died), orange canvas backpack that I tried to camouflage with mud- that’s harder to do than it looks! (and rubs off REALLY easy, as you can see in the pics), a silver bow, arrows and quiver (Katniss got them from Glimmer), a knife ( from Clove who threw it at Katniss but it hit her backpack). I tried to make the closest thing to the mockingjay-pin as I could. I also added the wounds Katniss received in the HG, a burn on my calf  and hands (from the fireball) and cut above right eyebrow and lip (from Clove). Something else I added was dirt, lots of dirt. I smeared it all over my clothes, because I didn’t remember any mention of a laundromat in the book, so… dirty clothes galore!”

Overall awesome costume Chris! You truly embodied Katniss to us! Chris wins a Hunger Games movie poster.

As mentioned, it was incredibly difficult to pick three winners from 125 entries. Some of you went out into the forest to take your photos, some of your climbed into trees, some of you scared the heck out of us (meant as a compliment, since this is a Halloween contest), and some of you spent weeks on your costumes. So while we don’t have enough prizes for all of you, here are some honorable mentions that we felt should be acknowledged for their work.

This Katniss & Peeta duo stood out to me because the Katniss looks very much like I imagined her reading the books, and her costume is fantastic. Also, the look on ‘Peeta’s’ face made me laugh! –Kimmy

The “here come muttations” look on Peeta’s face is just priceless. I also love that they’re dressed very similarly, since all tributes get the same outfit in the arena! –Crystal

This costume of Rue’s death by Levey A. was so creative and just like it is described in the novel. When I first saw it it reminded me of the ‘Katniss & Rue’ short by MainstayPro. Great idea! –Kimmy

 

While the costume is rather simple, it’s the blood, axe, and expression on Nina’s face that really, really scared me. She totally captured the savageness of Johanna in her first Games and the spirit of Halloween all in one photo! Amazing job! –Crystal

 

Grant not only thought outside the box, but inside the box as well! I cracked up laughing at this entry. Genius! Pure genius! –Crystal

 

We had many entries of Katniss in the arena, and you have no idea how difficult it was to choose one! I loved Katie’s added touch of the fire colored streaks in her hair left from the opening ceremonies. –Kimmy

This was one of the other Katniss costumes I really loved. The fact that Katie burnt her pants and made not just tracker jacker stings, but healing tracking jacker stings just blew me away! –Crystal

This was an entry sadly stuck in the difficult position of being a ‘in-arena-Katniss,’ but I absolutely loved her detail of the fire painted nails, which Katniss had actually kept on during the games in the novel. –Kimmy

Savanah wins major awesome points for being our only Buttercup costume, but most especially for going out and playing ‘Crazy Cat’ to take her photo!! –Crystal

As a side note, while I did love his Gale costume, I felt the need to mention that contestant Chris could probably pursue a career as a Justin Bieber look alike! Seriously!

Thank you to everyone who entered our contest. All the entries can be viewed here. You were all amazing and I hope you’ll enter our contest again next year. May the odds be ever in your favor!