Kumoricon Hall Cosplay
Though out the weekend, various judges will be searching the Kumoricon halls and panels looking for costumes that stand out in some special way.
1.
Our judges are quite diverse. Some are experts when it comes to sewing and tailoring and these judges will be looking for costuming excellence. If one of these judges selects you for an award, you will be asked who made your costume because we would like the award to go to the person that did the work. In this case we will take down your name as “Model” and the person who made the costume as the “Winner.” If the person who made the costume is not attending, the ribbon will be given to the Model, but we request that it be forwarded to the costume creator. We believe people are honest and want credit to be given where credit is due and we trust you to get the ribbon to the person that deserves it.
[Exception: If you are modeling a costume that you had commissioned, we are not against giving a prize that will go to a smaller scale costume creator that is less well known or doesn’t make costumes as a full time job. But, if your costume was created by someone who is known to be one of the best in the business (someone like Melissa Quinn as an example of consistent excellence), we would prefer to acknowledge someone with fewer credentials. There are others that would fall into the same catagory and by no means do I mean to single out Melissa, but she is the best Pacific Northwest Anime example I could think of.
See section 3, you still have a chance to win something in that same costume!]
2.
Some judges are really into props and little details. Perhaps you don’t have the most perfect overall costume, but you went out of the way to make accessories to make your outfit stand out, a judge might choose to award that. (Think of an average Sumomo costume, but the cosplayer carrying around a giant, well made Floppy Disk or other prop to provide scale). Or maybe the Cosplayer made an amazing Zelda Shield! (Again, the same rules from section 1 about modeling vs. actually being the creator of the prop apply.)
3.
Some of the judges will just be on the look out for fun spontaneous moments that just can’t be planned. They are the judges that are focused on the “Play” portion of the word Cosplay. For example, last year a group of female Final Fantasy characters pretended to sing background to “Amish Paradise” and made up a simple choreographed dance on the spot while another Final Fantasy character decided to sing lead. It’s spontaneous moments that make a convention special and this is a way of rewarding them. Another example would be giving a very “in character” performance during ‘open mic’ Karaoke or someone being very much in character in the halls (as long as you aren’t doing a real life imitation of Happosai!).
4.
And finally, are you an attendee who thinks a volunteer or staff’s costume should be recognized? Go to the info-desk to nominate a staff member or volunteer. Any staff or volunteer winner will be selected by attendees.
The Fine Print:
All Winners must be willing to give out his or her name, badge number, and be willing to be photographed for our web page. If you like, you will have the option of only being identified by nickname on the web.
Questions? Post them right here and we'll answer them for you.
