CHICAGO — On March 16th, 2018, the Illinois Leather Alliance held their annual contest in Chicago. This year there were a few changes to the contest, including a whole new venue. The Illinois Leather Alliance holds contests for Sir, boy, Ms. Leather Pride, Puppy, Trainer, Bootblack, Master, Slave, and this year a new contest was added for Person of Leather. Contestants who compete and are awarded the title go on to compete at Great Lakes Leather Alliance weekend in September, if they choose to.
The Judges for the weekend were:
Mufasa Ali (ONYX Founder, Mr World Leather 2006-07)
Ms Simone (Illinois Ms. Leather Pride 2008, International Ms. Olympus Leather 2009)
Dan the Rubberman (Midwest Rubber 2006)
Tom Wray (Founder and Editor: Great Lakes Den, Illinois Eagle)
Pup Havok (TriState Puppy 2017)
Friday was the Meet and Greet held at Touche, it was emceed by Producer Slave Angie and Dean Ogren. We were able to meet the contestants and auctions were held to raise funds for the winners travel funds. On Saturday, we returned to Touche for Eye Openers, a brunch for the contestants and public, followed by open interviews for the contestants. This is different than many other contests, in that the public can sit in and watch the contestants interviews.
After the interviews, classes and panel discussion took place at Touche and the Cell Block. The classes included Predicament Play presented by Slade, Mr Jackhammer Fetish 2016, and Impact Play present by TJ, Mr Leather 64ten 2017. The panel discussions were Puppy 204: Fostering Inclusion in the Pup Community and Puppy 242: Collaring and Pack Dynamics presented by by Sir Nate, GLLA Trainer 2017, Pup Cyon, and Pup Teya, GLLA Puppy 2017.
Following the panel discussions, the Pups and Trainer were judged on their show presentations in front of an audience. They were given instructions one hour before the presentation began and judged on various aspects.
The main contest was held at the Center on Halsted for the first time this year. The contestants all gave a speech to introduce themselves to the community, answered pop questions, and there were fantasy scenes. There were contestants this year for boy, Ms. Leather Pride, Puppy, and Trainer, with a total of 6 contestants in all.
Pup Mischief was the sole contestant for boy and received the title Illinois Boy 2018. There were three Pups who competed, Pup Diesel, Pup Gazer, and Pup Iko. Diesel was the first runner up, with Gazer being awarded the Title of Illinois Puppy 2018. Master Jon was the sole Trainer in competition, and was awarded the title of Illinois Trainer 2018.
L to R: Pup Gazer, Illinois Puppy 2018; Pup Mischief, Illinois boy 2018; Master Jon, Illinois Trainer 2018
Noelle competed for Ms. Leather Pride and while she did an amazing job, she did not receive the title based on the points that were scored over the weekend from the panel of judges. Contestants are judged on a variety of areas throughout the weekend including an Interview, an introduction speech, a fantasy scene, pop questions, and image. Scoring is done on an aggregate basis. Contestants must meet a certain percentage of the overall points to win, whether or not they are competing on their own or against others.
Pictures attached here from the event were taken by Bayard Matty
