So you’d like to have your costume judged but you don’t want to get up on stage and parade in front of hundreds of fellow fans? Have more than one costume you’d like to have judged during the convention? Well come on down to the Hall Costume Contest where our faboooolus judges will do just that!
Entry into the contest is simple. Just bring your entry form (printed from the website or available on site during the contest) to the location at the times designated for the contest. The staff will collect your form, call you up, take your photo, ask you some questions and then you’re free to go!
Please check our pocket schedule for the times and location of the contest.
RULES
- The Hall Costume Contest takes place on Friday and Saturday of the convention, with the awards announced at the Masquerade.
- Entrants are limited to one entry per day per person for the contest.
- If you are entering a costume in the Masquerade (i.e. the on-stage Cosplay), you may not enter the SAME costume in the Hall Costume Contest.
- You may not enter the same costume both days of the contest. If you would like to enter Friday and Saturday you must have two different costumes.
- Reference material for your costume is strongly recommended. While the Contest Coordinator and the judges would like to know every character of every series, they don’t. References are not required but they are helpful for both the judges and entrants.
- It is REQUIRED that all costumes entered into the contest to be of characters pertaining to anime, manga, video games, or other aspects of Asian culture (such as J-Rock and J-Pop). Other animation/cartoons (i.e. Adventure Time and Archer ), comics (i.e. Marvel and DC ), webcomics (Homestuck), video games (i.e. Call of Duty and Assassins Creed ), TV series (i.e. Doctor Who and Walking Dead ) and movies (i.e. Harry Potter or Hunger Games ) will not qualify for entry into the competition. If you feel you have an acceptable source that the judges may question you must bring a reference.
- Expanding on Rule #6, Original Costumes are not permitted in the contest. This includes the following: fanart, gijinka, original characters of works created by the entrant, girl versions of male characters and vise versa (crossplay IS fine, just not a boy version of Sailor Moon or a girl version of Sephiroth as two examples).
- All convention rules will be enforced for the Hall Costume Contest, so make sure to get those props checked out with Con Safety before you come to get judged.
- AnimeNEXT’s Hall Costume Contest will continue to institute the International Costuming Guild’s level system. Please make sure to read the general Craftsmanship Rules for any information you may need. These rules apply to both the Masquerade and the Hall Costume Contest.
- The Hall Costume Contest is a craftsmanship contest. The judges will look at your costume based on how well it is constructed, creativity and accuracy.
- Judging is on a first come first serve basis. The contest coordinator reserves the right to cap entries based on contest times and number of entries, so come early!
- You may be judged as an individual or a group. If you choose to be judged as a group, please fill out only one form. If you have a group of 8 people or more, you must see the coordinator at the convention during contest hours. If you do not plan for a time you will be asked to break your group into separate entries. All large groups must plan times prior to the end of judging on Saturday.
- Likewise if your costume is large and you think it will be a problem to bring into the judging room please speak to the coordinator. In most situations she will be able to work out something with you to get your costume judged.
- If you are the model for a costume that was made by someone else, the person who made the costume MUST be present to explain its construction. In the event that the costume wins an award the award will go to the person who constructed it and NOT the model. Please fill out all forms to reflect this information.
- If you enter a costume that is commissioned and the person who constructed it is not with you, the costume will be disqualified. Having help on a costume is more than fine, having someone else construct it entirely and taking credit is not.
