Eligibility

• All participants must have a Kumoricon 2012 badge.
• All participants must read and agree to follow all rules of the Cosplay contest.
• By registering for the Cosplay contest, all participants agree to allow Kumoricon to use their images for promotional purposes, both photographs and video. Photographs of winning entries will be shown at the Kumoricon closing ceremonies.
• All convention policies must be upheld during the entirety of the Cosplay competition. Anyone breaking Kumoricon rules will be disqualified and reported to Ops.
• Kumoricon regular staff may enter Cosplay contest as long as staff-related responsibilities are fulfilled.
• Kumoricon Board members may not compete in the Cosplay contest.

How to Enter

• Sign-up for the Kumoricon 2012 Cosplay competition begins once the rules have been posted to the www.kumoricon.org website. To sign up, fill out the Cosplay Contest Entry Form and email it to cosplay@kumoricon.org. (Please send the PDF as an attached file. If the file does not attach correctly, or fails to save your data within, copy and paste all relevant information into the body of the email.)
• The deadline for entry forms to be received via email will be August 25, 2012. At-convention sign ups may be available should any open slots remain.
• The total number of presentations that will be allowed this year will be 60.
• All entries are taken on a first come, first served basis. If all entry slots are full, there will be a waiting list for additional entrants who may be called in if anyone drops out or is disqualified.
• Entrants are required to attend the Pre-Meeting and the Technical Rehearsal, and to show up at the requested time for the contest itself. Costume Workmanship judging is required if and only if an entrant has chosen to have Workmanship judged. Entrants who miss any of these events may be disqualified. Please see the official Kumoricon schedule for times and locations of REQUIRED Cosplay Meetings and activities.

General Information

• Kumoricon is a family friendly event. Content should not go beyond PG-13.
  • Offensive language of any kind is not allowed—no racial or sexual epithets; no profanity, etc.
  • No excessive violence.
  • No sexual activity or contact—real or implied.
  • All sexual jokes must have a non-sexual interpretation that is at least as obvious as the sexual one.
  • No nudity—ALL costumes must adhere to the official Kumoricon rules.
  • No yaoi, yuri, or hentai.
  • Be clever, not crass! If you think your costume or presentation might be too risqué or offensive, it probably is.
  • If you have a question about your content, please feel free to ask the Cosplay Staff if it is allowable.
• You may surprise the audience, but NEVER SURPRISE THE CREW.
• No fire, flame, smoke, fog, dry ice, wind machines, lasers, pressurized gases or liquids.
• No messy substances—wet, dry, or oily—in the green room or on stage.
• No jumping on or off stage—please use the officially designated stage entrances and exits.
• Entrants must abide by the Convention weapons policy. All weapons must be peace bonded and approved. Pointing weapons at anyone not in your Cosplay group will NOT be tolerated. The Cosplay Coordinator must approve any actions involving weapons.
• Contestants may not use stage time to make political, religious, insulting, or other demonstrations not related to their entry.
• If for whatever reason one contestant is removed from competition for any violation the entire group will be disqualified as well.
• All decisions made by the Cosplay Coordinator or Programming Director are final and may only be changed by a formal challenge though Programming.
• You must have some kind of foot covering. Shoes or boots are required. Be aware of safety concerns. If your character does not wear shoes the lack of accuracy will be forgiven; consider flesh-toned or clear shoes.

Judging

"Presentation" and "Workmanship" judging are entirely separate. There is a judging panel for Presentation and a judging panel for Workmanship. Each panel selects and grants its own awards. Workmanship judging is not required, and the decisions and deliberations of the Workmanship panel have no influence on the Presentation panel, or vice versa.

• All entrants will have a presentation—either a walk-on, a traditional skit or dance skit.
• Each contestant will appear in only one stage performance.
• Entrants may enter in different Presentation and Workmanship categories.
• While we appreciate costumes from other genres, Kumoricon's Cosplay contest will be limited to those of Japanese origin including: Japanese anime, Japanese manga, J-rock, J-pop, Lolita, Japanese live-action cinema or TV series, Japanese religious or cultural garb, Japanese-origin video games or Japanese school or state uniforms. If your costume originates from any other country, it does not qualify. (Please feel free to enter non-qualifying costumes in the Hall Cosplay Contest).
• The judges are free to give as many or as few awards as they choose.

Presentations

• Presentations will be judged based on the performance of the whole group.
• Presentation awards are granted to the entries that have shown excellent stage presentation. This can be either by a performance or a simple exhibition of a costume.
• There are 3 types of Presentations:
  • Regular skit – Traditional skits in which the main activities include characters talking to each other and acting out a scene. Duration may be UP TO 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
  • Dance skit – skits in which most of the performance is dancing. Duration may be UP TO 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
  • Walk-on – quick presentation consisting of a few poses intended to show off a costume. Duration may be UP TO 40 seconds.
• Costumes not entered in the workmanship judging do not have to be self-made. See below for Workmanship costume requirements.
• Pre-recorded music and dialogue are preferred and strongly encouraged, but not required.
  • Do not submit valuable original CDs. Bring backup copies of your audio to ensure it's not lost. Kumoricon is not responsible for damage to or loss of CDs or any other media, so please ONLY use “disposable” rewritable CDs rather than more valuable items.
  • Include the name of your contact person and entry name in the filename.
  • Clearly label CD with group name and Skit Title.
  • One track on CD is preferred; we cannot change tracks or start in the middle of a track.
  • CD music and dialogue MUST be clear to hear. The preferred encoding is MP3 format, 128 kbps, 44.1 Khz.
  • We can not play or rip music off portable MP3 players, such as iPods or cell phones.
• Leave the stage as clean as it was when you set foot on it. Arrange to remove all items you brought on stage at the end of your presentation. If you have a particularly intricate presentation, we recommend you recruit your own stage ninja.
• No entry may be a repeat of an entry from any previous competition at Kumoricon.
• Don't plan for complex lighting. The default lighting cue is: lights go up, music starts, you come on at stage right, you leave on stage left, music stops, lights go down. If you desire anything other than default lighting or music cues, discuss it with the crew during your tech rehearsal.
• A group should compete in the skill division of the group's most experienced member. If in a group and all participants are Novice, but one participant is Master, the group must compete in the Master Division (as no one may compete in a Division lower than their own). You cannot compete lower than any Division award you have won.

Costume Workmanship

• The workmanship awards are based on the following factors:
  • Adaptation:
    • Representation of your costume to the character design.
    • Skill in scale and body fit adaptation.
    • Resemblance to character shown in documentation
  • Overall Construction:
    • Use of materials, construction methods and durability.
    • Use of appropriate or innovative methods and applications.
  • Extra points may be awarded at the Judges discretion for construction done above and beyond the normal effort expected for a costume.
• All entrants will participate in the presentation portion.
• Multiple costumes made by the same person may be entered so long as each costume appears on a different body.
• Reference pictures WILL be required. This includes screen captures, posters, or any other official medium that reveals the character's full costume. The pictures should reveal different views of the character (i.e. front, back, sides). Do not assume judges know your costume or character! You will be required to bring your reference pictures with you at the time of judging. You do not need to bring them to the Cosplay Pre-Meeting.
• Commissioned, purchased, rented, or commercially made costumes will not be allowed to enter the workmanship portion of the contest. A portion of the costume (such as a leotard, tights and shoes) may be from purchased finished goods, but at least 60% of the costume should have been constructed by the creator of the costume. If you have made heavy alterations to a store-bought garment and wish to enter it into the contest, you must be able to explain how you have altered it and the processes that such an endeavor entailed. Unaltered store-bought assemblies of clothing to represent a "costume" are NOT allowed.
• Costumes worn for any previous competition at Kumoricon are ineligible.

Skill Levels

To ensure that Entrants with limited experience compete with their peers and not against more experienced entrants, skill levels have been established. Entrants may elect to enter different skill levels for Workmanship and Presentation. The Judges will assess entries of higher skill levels using stricter criteria.

• For Workmanship judging, these rankings apply to the costume maker, not the wearer as they are for construction, not presentation.
• Group entries will be judged at the highest division amongst your members.

Master

• The Master category is intended for skilled cosplayers with extensive cosplay experience and several awards.
• Professional actors and actresses or groups who perform outside the convention circuit are required to compete at this level for presentations. Professional costumers, tailors, pattern-makers, seamstresses or people who take commissions for creating costumes or other clothing are required to compete at this level for Workmanship.
• Anyone who has won three or more awards as a Journeyman at the Regional or International level, or
• An individual who has achieved "Master" status at any other major convention, or
• Anyone who chooses to compete in this division may do so.

Journeyman

• The Journeyman category is intended for people with significant cosplay experience and some awards.
• Has won fewer than three awards as a Journeyman, or
• Has won at least three awards in the Novice category, or
• Anyone who is not required to compete as a Master and who chooses to compete in this division.

Intermediate

• The Intermediate category is intended for people with some cosplay performance experience / some experience making costumes.
• Usually Intermediate entrants have previously entered into a Cosplay competition, but may or may not not have received an award.
• Anyone who has won fewer than three awards as a Novice at any other major Cosplay competition (Hall Cosplay awards do not count).

Novice

• The Novice category is intended for people with virtually no cosplay experience or cosplayers with little to no prior experience on stage / making costumes.
• First time performers / costumers fit here.
• Any group with at least one member who is old enough to NOT qualify for the Youth division, or a Youth group that prefers to compete in the Novice division.
• Anyone who has never won an award in a cosplay competition (other than as a Youth) at any convention.

Youth

• All members of the group are 14 or younger on the day of the competition.
• For Workmanship: Contestants beneath the age of 14 on the day of the competition who have created at least 50% of their costume on their own (if an adult created the costume, the costume is entered under the Adult's skill level).
• Anyone who is also not part of an adult group.
• Note: For Performance, parents used as "props" for small children do not bump children into an adult class.

Please note that any entry may be reclassified by the Judges if they feel it is appropriate.