The 2018 OSCARE Awards...
Stay tuned... Tonight, we'll announce winners in 5 categories of Haunted Attractions. See who secret-shoppers selected as their favorites!The "OSCARE Awards" is our way of giving recognition to a few Central New York Haunted Attractions that stood out from the rest. It isn't a popularity contest, nor is it based on blind votes. Award recognitions are determined based on the summarized results of surveys completed by secret-shoppers. We'll begin posting the fun around 7ish!
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About the Scarycuse OSCARE Awards
Yes, it's real. The OSCARE is a 10" tall ghoul statuette, encrusted in real rust, and weighing in at nearly 2 lbs. The Haunted Attraction determined to be the best overall, is awarded the title BEAST OF CUSE, and receives an actual OSCARE Statue.
The "OSCARE Awards" is our way of giving recognition to a few Central New York Haunted Attractions that stood out from the rest. It isn't a popularity contest, nor is it based on blind votes. Award recognitions are determined based on the summarized results of surveys completed by secret-shoppers.
As of Halloween Season 2018, there are 5 categories in which attractions are recognized: Best Home-Haunt, Best Boo-for-your-Buck, Best Haunted Hayride, Best Haunted Trail, and finally The Best Overall Haunted Attraction in CNY is awarded the title BEAST OF CUSE. It is possible for an attraction to win in more than one category.
When it comes to determining award winners, Scarycuse is 100% unbiased. We appreciate every minute and every dime invested into the amazing attractions in CNY. Furthermore, the amazing scare-actors, employees and volunteers at every attraction, who spend hours in the dark making us all scream.
Secret Shoppers
Our secret-shoppers are people from all walks of life. Some are hard-core haunted attraction aficionados, others are soccer moms, teens on a date etc. Sometimes they are provided with complimentary tickets, sometimes we pay their way, but most often they pay their own way- ensuring their perception of an attraction's value is based on real cost to them.
The number of secret-shoppers varies by category, but we always try to ensure competing attractions have at least an equal number of secret-shopper visits- e.g. A Haunted Hayride may have 10 Secret-Shoppers, and a Home-Haunt may have 5, as they are not competing in the same category. It's not a scientific process in the least, but we do want it to be as fair and accurate as possible. Secret-shopper visits are done on any given night during Halloween season, and results are summarized.
The Survey
Our secret-shopper survey is over fifty questions long, and covers all kinds of details.
This includes cost, wait time, queue-line entertainment, scare-actors, detail, length and much more, the most important being scares! The results for several questions, lend themselves to specific award categories.
We worked hard to make sure our survey was as comprehensive as possible.
Sometimes we feel bad making people complete such an arduous and time consuming survey, but when it comes time to determine winners, the more details we have, the better.
Scarycuse staff also does one survey after attending any attraction, with our own results weighed with no more importance than any other secret-shopper.
Why are the OSCARE Awards so important?
Simply put, they are not. An award really says nothing about the creative vision and countless hours of work and direction that birthed a living, breathing, interactive work of art that elicits one of the most powerful human emotions... FEAR. That, in a nutshell, is what every Haunted Attraction owner and staff do. Year after year.
We hope Scarycuse awards don't cause any headaches for folks trying to nail down a recognition that doesn't really mean anything at all. Please don't care too much about winning an award. If you made people scream, and made enough money to do it again next year, you win. We all win. Thanks for making Central New York a great place to live for at least one awesome season!
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Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Sincerely,
-Kirk @ Scarycuse.com
