Hall Cosplay

Hall Costume Contest

So you have a costume, but for whatever reason, you aren’t appearing in the Saturday Night Masquerade. If you want to have your costume judged, feel free to enter the Hall Costume Contest. Some things you will want to keep in mind: PLEASE NOTE: any costume used in competition as a hall costume prior to the Masquerade cannot be entered in the Masquerade. Hall costumes are recommended for new fans and for those who suffer from stage fright. Please contact our Hall Cosplay Staff at katsuconhcc@hotmail.com if you have any questions about the Hall Costume Contest.

The location and times for this years Hall Costume Contest are:

Friday: 7:00pm-10:00pm in Workshop Room National 13
Saturday: 11:00am-3:00pm in Live 14

If you are entering both days the rooms are right across the hall from each other! Check the map in the program for the location!

Rules

1. All costumes will be judged as recreations.
2. There will be no pre-regged entries this year, please show up at the designated times and get signed up for the contest. The signup sheet will be outside the room with the Hall Costume Contest Staff 30 minutes before the contest starts.
3. All contestants that have signed up should be in the designated programming room where the Hall Costume Contest is to be held. Please be there when the contest starts to ensure that you can get a judging spot.
4. Craftsmanship is the assessment of the costumer’s skill at making a costume. Any costume that consists mostly of bought items (i.e. buying regular street clothes that require no alterations) will not be considered for hall judging. Also, if you were not involved in the making of your costume, please do not register for craftsmanship judging. You cannot receive credit for another person’s work. However, parrents, grandparents, and guardians are permitted to help their children in making their costumes for craftsmanship judging; in such a case, it is preferred that the costume maker be present at the pre-judging.
5. Katsucon is a Japanese anime convention, so please enter only costumes from anime and Japanese-influenced video games in the Hall Costume Contest. Costumes from non-Japanese sources, such as Star Wars, Star Trek and Harry Potter are welcome to be worn around the convention, but we ask that you do not enter these costumes in the Hall Costume Contest. Likewise, please no original characters (i.e. made up characters that are not part of the canon from any actual anime). The accuracy of these characters’ costumes is completely at the whim of the creator, so we would have no fair basis to judge them.
6. Please bring reference material for your character. The judges have been around, but they haven’t seen every anime or played every game ever. Having a physical image of the original character design helps us immensely with our judging
7. The Katsucon Hall Costume Contest is an amateur competition. If you are a professional costumer, we ask that you do not compete for Hall Costume Contest prizes. For this competition, a professional costumer is defined as an individual who has technical training in the field of costuming and makes over 50% of their income in a costume-making occupation. Cosplayers who casually sell old costumes on eBay, for example, are not considered professional costumers.
8. We will be judging your costume on workmanship and presentability. Staying in character is not necessary, although enthusiasm is appreciated.
9. You may not enter a costume in the Hall Costume Contest that you also plan on using to compete in the Masquerade. Also, you may only enter one costume a day in the Hall Costume Contest if you decide to compete in both days of the competition.
10. The secret ingredient of this year’s Hall Costume Contest is LOVE! And wasabi…

Awards

The competitive awards for this year are:

• Best Overall Hall Craftsmanship
• Best of Weekend – Craftsman
• Best of Weekend – Journeyman
• Best of Weekend – Novice
• Best of Weekend – Beginner

Honorable mentions and judges’ awards may be given at the judges’ discretion. The judges may give as few or as many awards as they see fit. Excellence deserves recognition.

Please note that there are no Best of Friday or Saturday prizes awarded. The Best of Division prizes will go to the people who had the best craftsmanship out of all the other people who entered in their particular divison over the weekend. We are not giving awards such as Best of Friday Journeyman.

The winners will be announced Saturday night at the Masquerade awards ceremony.

Divisions

All entries must register under one of the following divisions:

Youth
Any contestant who is age 12 or younger.

Beginner
All members of the group never entered a costume contest or have won zero awards.

Novice
All contestants in the group have won fewer than three (3) major prizes in costume competitions at any convention.

Journeyman
Any contestant in the group has won at least three (3) major prizes as a Novice, but less than three additional major prizes at the Journeyman level, OR has won a major prize at Journeyman level.

Craftsman
Any contestant in the group has won three (3) or more major prizes ABOVE the Novice level at any previous conventions OR has won a major prize at the Craftsman level.

A major prize is defined as “Best…,” “Most…,” “Judge’s Choice,” “First Place,” or “Second Place.” When determining your group’s ranking, you must go with the awards won by the most experienced member of your group.

Contestants are always welcome to compete at a higher level than one for which they are technically eligible. Contestants, however, may not compete at a lower level. The Hall Costume Contest staff will be empowered to re-place contestants into the correct Division according to known prizes won at other conventions. Knowingly registering in a lower Division is grounds for disqualification from this and all future Katsucon Hall Costume Contests and Masquerades.