Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 12:15:58 -0700 From: Eros Publishing Subject: Press Release What is Seattle Leather Ambassador? Seattle Leather Ambassador is a truly pansexual title, where people of all genders and orientations compete in the same contest. Representing Generic Leather Productions of Washington, SLA is a "working title," emphasizing community service with the titleholder raising funds for local charities, as well as promoting community events by attending regional leather functions. The titleholder has the option of going on to compete at the Mr/Ms Olympus contest at the end of their title year. GLPW has made some dramatic changes with this new contest. There is a new Social Interaction category which is based on the Mr/Ms Olympus Contest. Beginning with the Meet & Greet, and concluding just prior to the contest, contestants will be evaluated on how they interact with Judges, other contestants, contest staff, and the general public. "Schmoozing is one of the most important parts of being a titleholder," states Washington State Ms. Leather and contest Co-chair, Hobbit, "a person can write a good speech, put together a great fantasy, and practice for the interview, but if they don't interact well socially, their title year is going to be rough. That's why we added it." Everyone is welcome to participate in this category by coming to the Meet & Greet, Friday November 8th, 8-10PM, (venue TBA). Another big change is the posting of contestant scores from the Pre-Contest Interview and Social Interaction categories, (along with their bio and a photograph), on stage 30 minutes prior to the contest. "We wanted the audience to feel included in the preliminary process of judging," said Denise Pedro, a member of the SLA advisory board, "we want people to know why the person that won, won." The final change is to solicit and select questions from the community to be used in the Impromptu Question category. "You know, those impromptu questions can be really different for each contestant, one can get a good question and another can get a really lame one, so we decided to pre-select the questions so that all contestants, though they won't know what the questions are, will have an equal chance to give a good response," explains Eddie Taylor, advisory board member. Come join special guest Judge and acclaimed author, Pat Califia; International Mr. Leather, Joe Gallagher; International Bootblack, Todd Nelson, along with our Judges: Aspiring Trapeze Artist, Ava Apple; Ilya Pearlman, the artist formerly known as Tsilke Pearlman; Ted Lord, Executive Director of the Pride Foundation; 1994 Seattle Mr. Leather, Aubrey Hart Sparks; Nice Guy, Scott Smith; alternate Judge and gender bent queer, Misha Williams; and Allena Gabosh, our esteemed Head Judge who defies description, on November 9th, 1996, 7PM at Neighbour's Niteclub for the first ever Seattle Leather Ambassador. All genders. All orientations. One contest. One title. Seattle Leather Ambassador.