General Rules for Participation in the

Middle Kingdom Arts and Sciences Faire

Regional and Kingdom Level

1. The Middle Kingdom Arts & Science Faire is open to all SCA participants.

2. All entries must represent the period 600 to 1600 Common Era (C.E.) and be derived from a European culture or another culture that had documented contact with Europe during that period.

3. In order to be eligible for participation, an entry:

· Must have been completed (but not necessarily started) within the previous two years.

· May not have been entered in any previous regional or kingdom level A&S Faire. An entry may have been entered in any other competition, show, or display either in or outside of the Middle Kingdom.

· Must comply with the General Rules for the Faire as well as the particular category rules the entry is placed under.

4. Participants may submit their individual projects for critique and advancement to Kingdom Finals in any regional faire, but participants in the Pentathlon Championship must submit their work for the Pentathlon in the region where they reside.

5. Participants may choose to submit their work for critique only (no placement is given) in any regional faire, however, such a piece may not be entered elsewhere or at any other time for scoring, and will in no case be advanced to Kingdom Finals.

6. Entries must be as anonymous as possible. The entrant's name, the name of the person for whom the entry was created, or an S.C.A. group name should not appear on the documentation or entry ticket.

7. Face to face judging is allowed at the regional level as long as all judges and the entrant agree to it. It is the entrant's responsibility to coordinate with the judges for the face-to-face judging. Face to face judging is not allowed at the Kingdom Finals.

8. Each entry must be accompanied by one entry ticket and three expendable copies of documentation. It is strongly recommended that once an entry number has been assigned to an entry, the participant should record that entry number on all copies of the entry's documentation.

9. The amount and style of documentation provided is at the participant's discretion, but excessive length is discouraged.

10. A participant should do his or her own research, however, the participant may have help in preparing the written documentation, provided that such assistance is indicated on the entry ticket. In such case, there will be an automatic deduction of .05 points from the documentation score for the entry. This does not include proofreading or suggestions.

11. Entries must be physically present the day of the regional faire or Kingdom Finals. Performance entries must be live; however, videotapes will be accepted for the categories of Riding Performance: Equestrian and Animal Husbandry. Such entries will be treated as mail-in entries. Scale models are accepted in the Siege Engines category. Substitutions of modern alternatives for products derived from endangered plant, animal and insect species will not be penalized.

12. Participants may enter as many categories as they wish, however, they may not enter more than three items in a single category.

13. A group submission may be entered in any category provided that all responsible individuals are listed on the entry ticket. An individual may enter a group project for individual critique only if their work is clearly distinguishable. In this case, s/he must submit a separate entry ticket and documentation. Specific written entry lengths and running time limits for performances are set forth in the rules for those categories.

14. Mail-in category entries must be received by the mail-in category deadline, which is set by the Kingdom Minister of Arts and Sciences and announced in the Middle Kingdom newsletter The Pale.

15. Materials used in the creation of entries may be modern if they resemble period materials. An entrant may procure period materials, such as hand woven, naturally dyed cloth, from another source. An entrant is not required to produce these materials, but they are welcome to do so.

16. Any beverage, foodstuff or herbal entry must conform to the Prohibited and Restricted Herbs list. Any herb used in an entry must be listed in the documentation by its Latin botanical name. Entries produced from kits are not eligible for entry. The use of templates is permitted.

17. If appropriate, an entry may be cross-entered in only one other category. A separate entry ticket and documentation must be submitted for the cross entry. An entry that is entered as a suite of items may not be broken up into individual components to cross enter into other categories. The entry may be cross-entered as a suite into only one other category. An entry's score will be the average of scores given it by the judges in that category. Each entry will receive a placement based on its average score, rounded to the nearest whole number as follows:

· First Place: 25 to 30 Points.

· Second Place: 19 to 24 Points.

· Third Place: 13 to 18 Points.

· Honorable Mention: 12 or fewer Points.

18. All entries which are placed within the First or Second Division at the regional level are eligible for advancement to the Kingdom Finals.

19. The Regional and Kingdom level faires will operate on the honor system. Any person who deliberately submits false information or claims works which have not been done by them (with the documentation exception detail in rule #10), will have all entries disqualified and will be barred from participation the following year.

20. Entries may not be reproduced or severely altered between the Regional and Kingdom level faires. Documentation may be enhanced between the regional and kingdom level faires to include new information or incorporate comments and information from the regional level judges.

21. The Kingdom Minister of Arts and Sciences reserves the right to open new faire categories if there is interest in the kingdom to warrant the new category.

22. The Kingdom Minister of Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions to the General Rules on a case-by-case basis,

Regional and Kingdom Pentathlon Championship Rules

1. Contestants must be residents of the Middle Kingdom, either by physical residency or by treaty. Contestants in a regional championship must physically reside in that regional.

2. All of the General Rules of Participation in the Middle Kingdom Arts and Sciences Faire apply.

3. Scores received on a mail-in category may be applied toward the championship. The mail-in entry due date will be designated by the Kingdom Minister of Arts and Sciences and announced in the Middle Kingdom newsletter, The Pale, but this date will be before the date of the first regional faire. A mail-in entry will only be judged once and the score applied at both the regional and Kingdom Faire.

4. A maximum of two (2) research papers may be used as entries with in the Regional or the Pentathlon Championship. Research papers dedicated to a clear criteria division and category may be applied as an entry within that criteria division. General research papers will be applied with in the Research criteria category, as is normally done.

5. Only those entries used in scoring a Pentathlon entry at the regional level may be used in the Kingdom Pentathlon Championship.

6. The Pentathlon Championship will be determined as follows:

· Each contestant will be allowed only one Pentathlon entry consisting of no more than seven (7) entries and no less than five (5).

· The contestant must have scores in five categories drawn from at least four separate divisions, with entries in no more than two categories in any one division.

· Should a contestant have more than two categories per criteria division, the two highest scores in that division will be applicable.

· The highest possible cumulative combination of scores on only five categories, as specified herein, will be used to determine the Pentathlon Championship. All entries used in a regional Pentathlon championship must score higher than 19 points to be eligible to participate at the Kingdom Pentathlon Championship,

· The five entries that receive the highest possible combination of scores at the regional level will be the entries allowed at the Kingdom Pentathlon. Should there be more than 5 entries, these can continue on to the Kingdom Faire as individual entries providing they receive a score higher than 19 points as set down in the General Rules of Participation.