Kennedy Center: ACTF - Mehron Award for Excellence in Makeup Design

The Mehron Makeup Design Awards

One of the displays for the National Mehron Award for Excellence in Make-up Design Exposition.

Mehron Makeup specializes in theatrical make-up for professionals. The purpose of the Mehron Makeup Awards is to give outstanding student designers national recognition and the opportunity to exhibit their work at the Kennedy Center. Designs will be appraised on the basis of quality, effectiveness, originality, and rendering techniques. Schools with one or more student designers in participating or associate productions are eligible for the Mehron Makeup Awards. Entering schools will, at the time or registration with the Kennedy Center and the Region, inform the Regional Chair of any student designers in makeup design and will request adjudication. Specific award information will be mailed to the entering college or university. Interested designers can also request a copy of the regulations for entering designs by completing the coupon below and mailing it to KCACTF at the Kennedy Center. Additional information about regional design awards is available from your regional chair. Mehron Makeup regional winners will each receive over $100 worth of makeup products from Mehron. The Mehron Makeup national winner will be selected from regional finalists by a national respondent from the Mehron Company during the national festival. The Mehron Makeup Design national winner will receive an honorarium and an all-expenses paid trip to New York City, and see a Broadway play or go to Los Angeles and be a guest at the National Makeup Artists Conference and tour through Hollywood makeup schools. The winner will be highlighted in the company publication.

Regulations and Procedures

One or two representative renderings of each character with the colors listed for each area, i.e. base, cheeks, eye shadow, lips, hair color, etc. (Makeup character worksheets may be used for renderings.)

A one page statement of the design approach to the production should be included separately from the renderings and color scheme. Color photographs of the finished characters, at least one head shot and at least one waist shot to show coordination between costume, makeup and hair.

General Information on the Design Awards

Designs entered in the Mehron Awards for Excellence in Makeup Design may be selected for the regional festival regardless of whether or not the production is selected for the regional festival. Student designers will be notified of the selection of the designs for the regional exhibition according to the procedures of the region: at the time of the initial screening by the respondent or by the Regional Chair or at the time of announcement of the productions chosen for the regional festival.
The designer is responsible for developing a suitable method of shipping the design both to and from the regional and national festival, including appropriate mailing and insurance charges.
Each regional festival will include a design workshop. Design judges will give an open critique session of the exhibit at the regional festival for student designers whose work is on display and for festival participants. The guest designer will select, or serve as chairman of a panel of designers who will select, not more than three designs (one in set design, one in costume design, and one in lighting design) for exhibition at the Kennedy Center. Announcements of the designs selected for exhibition at the Kennedy Center will be made at the regional festival.
Regional design winners will be responsible for providing their own transportation costs to attend the KCACTF National Design Critique at the Kennedy Center. Attendance at the National Design Critique is not mandatory. For those designers able to attend, KCACTF will provide hotel accommodations and per diem for the two-day period of design adjudication. Faculty representatives will be allowed to observe the national design critique on a space available basis. The design award will be based solely on the submitted design documentation relative to the entered participating or associate production.
Student design finalists may, at their option, bring their portfolio to the Kennedy Center. Time permitting, the national design award adjudicators will be available to examine portfolios. However, the contents of the portfolio will have no bearing on the selection of the national winners and the portfolio materials shall not be presented to or discussed with the adjudicators until after the winning designs have been chosen.

Jennifer Cozens 2007 KCACTF/ Alcone Make-up Design Award Recipient

Mehron Makeup Design Winners

2007
Jennifer Cozens, University of Arkansas

2006
Kristina Makowski, University of Evansville

For more information on your regional design award programs, contact your regional design chair.