By Pam Markel, NCA Past President and Historian
1988 Showcase President's Award
In 2025 you read how extravagant and elegant the National Costumers Showcase event became. It was a spectacular, exciting event for the membership. The grand, creative costume entries, were a tribute to the talent and creativeness of the membership.
In the early days of showcase, the entrants were so numerous that judging was extremely conscientious and formal, each costume having to adhere to strict criteria, before even being considered for the Grand International Award or a Memorial Award.
1990 Showcase President's Award
Around the early 1970s, during the Bal Masque days (later renamed the Grand International Showcase), the NCA established the President’s and Judges Awards as part of the Showcase event. To be fair, the President’s Award was given for second place in each competitive category, while the Judges Award for Excellence was given for participation.
The 1970s Costumer magazines unfortunately did not contain any pictures of these awards, only lists of each winner of the two awards. In the 1974 magazine, it appears that the winners of the President’s Award for Excellence received trophies.
The 1971 President’s Awards for Excellence had 14 recipients, and no record of any awards for Judges Award for Excellence. The 1974 Bal Masque President’s Award for Excellence had 11 winners, and seven winners of the Judges Award for Excellence.
As the years went on, there were more and more entries in the Showcase were awarded these two prestigious awards.
If you were the recipient of either of these awards, please send me some pictures of your entry -- docmarkel@aol.com -- and I’ll add them to our history files.
Enjoy the pictures of days gone by.