I’m reprinting this from the Meridies-CostumeGroup list, for my own future use – but of course, y’all are welcome to anything you can learn.

Q: In the spirit of "There are no dumb questions, only dumb people." I am
outing myself as one of the dumb. I don’t understand some of the rules
for A&S competition. Specifically, when & how many times can I enter
something? There’s Magna Faire, a regional A&S, and then Kingdom A&S in
June? Is that right? If I enter something in one of them does that
prevent me from entering the same thing at another event? I have heard
we can enter 1 regional and 1 kingdom event but what about A&S
competitions at war? What about out of kingdom events? Everyone I ask
gives me a slightly different answer.

A1:
There is Magna Faire, which is actually 2 Faires in one – it’s both a
regional A&S Faire and the local "Magna Faire" which is not as strict
in their documentation. At Magna Faire, you can opt to place your
entry in either or both faires and each is judged by their own
standards (check their event website for details).

The Other Regional Faire is called Mid-Winter A&S which is held by
Southdowns in February.

Both of the Regional Faires use the Kingdom A&S rules which are on
Meridies.org under the A&S section.

Then you have Kingdom A&S in the first weekend in June.

As far as how many to faires to enter, the customs that I have
observed are the following (everyone feel free to disagree or comment
if they have observed otherwise):

1. In an ideal world, you would enter a piece in a local faire, make
improvements, enter in the regional faire, do some more
improvements,then enter it at Kingdom A&S. 

2.Regardless of which faire(s) you enter, it’s usually customary to
enter a piece that has been completed within the past year and that
is in good/excellent condition with very little to no wear.

3. Unless one does not finish the piece until after the last regional
faire, or unless you are experienced in your art form and super
confident that your piece needs no feedback for improvement, one
usually enters the piece in a regional faire to find any areas of
improvement before submitting the piece at Kingdom A&S.

4. It’s usually expected that if improvements are recommended or
further documentation is needed, that the entrant fulfill these
requests and provide a note in the documentation which is submitted
with the improved entry at the next faire they enter…***OR***…if
you do not agree with the recommendations, provide your rebuttal to
their comments to explain why you do not agree. Perhaps your
documentation was not clear, or it was difficult to find the
information and if you better organized the documentation they could
find the information they need to answer their questions.

But if you just ignore the judges comments, and resubmit at Kingdom
A&S without any improvements or revised documentation or provide some
sort of response to the judges comments, then chances are you will
annoy the judges. I’ve seen a few occasions where this has happened.

5. If you enter one regional faire, it’s not customary to enter at
another regional faire unless you have made improvements to the
project.

6. To my knowledge, A&S competitions at Wars are a separate track
from the KA&S track and they go by their own rules. This is one
kingdom showing off their artists against another kingdom. So you can
enter a piece event if it went through your kingdom’s A&S track
already. You would need to check with their event coordinator for
their arts competition to see what the parameters are for how old the
project can be that you can enter. They may or may not be more
lenient.

7. I strongly suggest you take a gander at this article that Maestra
Claire wrote:
http://meridianarts.bizhat.com/FAQs/FAQFaires.htm

A2:
You can only enter a particular item in Kingdom A&S once.
Generally you can only enter an item at a particular local A&S once, 
but you can enter it in various local A&S events, including the 
regional A&S events.
Most people will enter an item at Magna Faire or Midwinter A&S as a 
"dry run" to get suggestions for improvement prior to entering the 
item at KA&S.   There is nothing preventing one from entering an item 
in both MF and MW.

Judging at Magna Faire and Midwinter A&S can be just as strenuous as 
at KA&S if you enter as experienced rather than novice.  It’s a good 
trial run, but I have found that a high score in a regional A&S is no 
guarantee of a high score at KA&S as the set of judges may be 
different.  Despite lots of effort toward standard judging criteria, 
individuals still have their own backgrounds and biases.

The usual restriction on entering is not to enter the same item at the 
same fair twice.  And people don’t generally enter an item from KA&S 
at another event afterwards.  What’s the point?  The item is expected 
to be as polished as it’s going to get at KA&S.  Better to show it as 
a display once KA&S is over if you want to share it more.