So you’d like to have your costume judged at MangaNEXT!? Well come on down to our Hall Costume Contest and our fabooooooolus 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! (download form here)

Rules

1. The Hall Costume Contest takes place on Friday and Saturday of the convention with the awards announced on Saturday night.

2. Entrants are limited to one entry per day per person for the contest.

3. You may not enter the same costume both days of the contest. If you would like to enter both days of the contest you must have a different costume for each day.

4. 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.

5. As this is a manga specific convention, all costumes entered into the contest must be of a manga source. Manga that is based off of an anime or video game (ie. Gundam Seed or Kingdom Hearts) is allowed. We are defining manga by items that you can buy in the manga section of a bookstore.

6. No original characters are allowed entry into the contest. All costumes will be judged as a re-creation costume. Re-creation costumes are duplicates or design adaptations of the published design work of someone other than the entrant.

7. Because of Rule #5 – the character must appear in the manga in the design that you are cosplaying as. Anime and video game specific designs are not permitted.

8. Registration for the Hall Costume Contest will take place at the convention. Contest times are as follows:
a. Friday 5 PM – 8PM
b. Saturday 1PM- 4PM
(times subject to change)

9. 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. Commissioned costumes are prohibited however if you are the model for a costume that someone else made that is allowed, as long as the individual who made the costume is present to explain its construction. In the event of an award the award will go to the person who constructed the costume and not the model.

10. 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! Cut off for accepting entries ends 20 minutes before the end of the contest each day.

11. 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 email the contest coordinator to plan a time for your judging either prior to the convention or 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 4:00pm on Saturday, as that is when all judging ends.

12. All conventions 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.

13. There are 3 divisions for contest entries for the contest:
a. Youth – All contestants in the group are 12 years of age or younger
b. Novice – All contestants in the group have won fewer than three (3) major prizes for craftsmanship in costume competitions at any convention.
c. Advanced – Any contestant in the group has won three (3) or more major prizes for craftsmanship in costume competitions at any convention.
d. Grayscale – A costume that is being entered specifically for our Grayscale Costume Contest. There are no individual divisions within this contest.