Masquerade 

General Information

The Masquerade is an event for cosplayers to show off their craftsmanship and performances!

Walk On:  Craftsmanship, or exhibition, you will walk across stage and do a few poses for the audience, allow the audience to snap some photos, and then walk off. It’s a cosplay runway!

Performance (skits): Your choice of some sort of performance for the audience, whether you are acting or doing a choreographed dance. Audio must be submitted at time of judging. You will be limited to 4:00 of audio at the maximum.

Entering the Competition

Craftsmanship Sign Ups: Opening June 12th, 2022!
Performance Sign Ups: Opening June 12th, 2022!

Craftsmanship Competition Divisions

Note: The Cosplay Staff have the right to place a competitor in an appropriate division at their discretion.

In order to compete at Matsuricon, your costumes must meet the following requirements:

  • Any costumes are allowed to enter, as long as there is OFFICIAL reference art of the character. No fanart costumes will be permitted. All costumes must be derived from the original source material/artist/creator. If there is official art of characters from a podcast provided by the creators of said podcast, they WILL be permitted.
  • No Original characters, no Genderbends (unless there is official art from the creator(s) as such), no ginjikas, etc. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to email and ask.
  • All costumes must have been at least 75% made from scratch by the costume creator. (Shoes and wigs do not count towards the overall costume, but you will impress the judges if you make these things!)
  • Commissioned costumes cannot be entered in the competition divisions. (You may enter in the Exhibition division instead).
  • If you are competing as a group, you must compete in the same division. If you and your partner are competing together and are in different divisions, you both will be required to compete at the higher division level. Ex. You are in the masters division, but your partner is journeyman then, both of you will be required to enter at the masters level. If you feel uncomfortable with this, we recommend you enter and be judged separately, but you can both walk and pose on stage together during the masquerade. 

Exhibition: Costumes for the Exhibition division include commissioned, store bought (such as eBay), rented, and/or borrowed costumes. You will not be receiving any awards. Nor will your costume be judged for craftsmanship. We have a limited number of TEN slots for exhibition.

Juniors: Must be 12 and Under to compete. You can have help from friends and family to help you make the costume!

Closet Cosplay: A brand new division started in 2015 where people may enter their closet cosplays! This is anything from modified clothes or partially made items! (As long as it is an official character, not an Original or otherwise!) You MUST have made or heavily modified 50% of your costume.

Novice: Intended for those who are still in the beginning stages of learning to make your own cosplay. You cannot compete in this division with more than 1 Major award previously won, or 3 minor awards. (i.e. Honorable Mentions, Judges Awards, etc.)

Journeyman: Those with a solid comprehension of how to put together a costume and show some advanced skills and knowledge. You cannot compete in this division if you have won more than 2 Major awards or 4 minor awards, or has the comparable experience.

Masters: Master of the cosplay arts; someone who knows the ropes. Must have won 3 or more major awards, or has the comparable experience.

Judging Process

  • Bring references!  A reference is a picture of the character that you are cosplaying. Without a reference, we cannot accurately judge your costume for craftsmanship. It would be beneficial to your score to bring as much reference as possible, preferably as a color printout, but bringing figures, tablets, manga, books, laptops, etc., will also be accepted. Phone reference images will result in a deduction of points.
  • You will have five minutes! So be prepared to talk about your costume.  Come in knowing what you want to say. Tell the judges everything about how you made your costume. Things you should talk about include fabric, construction methods, or any special methods you used to get around a problem in designing the costume. The judges will be there to help guide you in your costume judging.
  • The judges will look at your costume up close!  Judges will be inspecting the costume craftsmanship up close, checking seams and details, so if you feel uncomfortable at any moment, please let the judges know!

Skits

  • Costumes and skits must be PG-13. If it’s appropriate for a PG-13 movie, it’s appropriate for the competition. However, if it is something you would not say in front of your grandmother, don’t put it in your skit. If you are unsure whether your skit is appropriate, please feel free to email me.
  • Skits must be no longer than 4 minutes in length. Skits that run on longer than 4 minutes (within reason) will be disqualified from any awards. For this reason, we encourage you to pre-record your skits unless it absolutely must be performed live (such as playing an instrument). 
  • Objects and activities not permitted on stage: No live steel and firearms. No incendiary devices (such as sparklers, firecrackers or smoke bombs). No throwing of objects will be permitted. No glitter.
  • Reckless Behavior resulting in falling off stage, or breaking/damaging equipment (or nearly doing so) will result in disqualification. If you damage equipment, we will hold you responsible for the cost to fix or replace it.
  • What goes on stage with you MUST come off stage as you leave.