Dolus aut Dulce 2018

Last year's winner, Vincent Marcellino aka Vincentius,
as Imperator Marcellinus.

The days are growing shorter and there’s a chill in the air, which means it’s time for Bolchazy-Carducci’s annual Halloween costume contest, Dolus aut Dulce! We love seeing our participants’ creativity in making classics-related costumes and can’t wait to see what’s in store this year. Whether you are someone who happens to have spent time wrapped in the quintessential sheet-toga (and who among us hasn’t) or you take pleasure in crafting elaborate themed costumes, please send us your photos!

To enter our classics costume contest, all you need to do is follow @BCPublishers on Twitter and then tweet us your costume photo using the hashtag #BCPub. There are two entry categories, individual and group costume. The winner in each category will receive a $50 book credit. Once the contest has ended, the Bolchazy editorial board will judge all submissions and award one prize per category based on the following criteria: creativity, quality, and connection to classics. One entry per Twitter account, please. For group contest submissions, the prize will go to the owner of the Twitter account who submitted the photo unless otherwise specified.

No need to wait until October 31st to send a picture. And, you don’t have to strictly limit yourself to Halloween pictures—if you have a photo of yourself dressed in classical costume for a non-Halloween-related reason, feel free to submit it! We will start accepting photos this week and will continue to accept pictures until 11:59 PM CT on Wednesday, November 7th.

Dolus aut Dulce? Halloween Costume Contest Results

Lydia Haile Fasset, dressed as
a wolf, holds her twin girls,
Secunda, left, and Prima, who
dress as Romulus and Remus.

Over the past month we asked teachers and students to dress up in classics-themed costumes for Halloween and to send their pictures to us through Twitter. We requested that those already intending to dress send us pictures as well. Though we had a nice mix of students and teachers send pictures to us, we will be seeking greater participation from both next year!

Mont Allen, right, and partner
Stephanie Pearson dress as a
blue-skinned Charun and
an Etruscan noblewoman.

Still, it was nice to see such an array of costumes, ranging from traditional Roman mythology, to Greek grammar, and even an Etruscan Charun and noblewoman! Thank you to all who participated, and congratulations to the winners, who were randomly selected from the pool of participants.

Congratulations to winner Mont Allen, Assistant Professor of Classics & Art History at Southern Illinois University. He and partner Stephanie Pearson, Assistant Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Humboldt University-Berlin, dressed together as a blue-skinned, hook-nosed Charun, one of the psychopompoi of Etruscan mythology, "claiming" an Etruscan noblewoman clutching her mirror.

Rebeccaa Sahlin, in her
rainbow bustle and train,
dresses as the personification
of the rainbow, Iris.

Congratulations also to our second winner, Lydia Haile Fassett. Another group entrant, she and her twin girls, who go by their Latin names of Prima and Secunda, dressed as Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, with the maternal wolf who found and raised them in their infancy.

Lastly, congratulations to our third winner, Rebecca Sahlin. She dressed as Iris, personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods, with a rainbow bustle and train.

Did you miss out on this year's Halloween contest? Be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to keep up to date with upcoming contests, new books, and conference and webinar schedules!