World Cosplay Summit Masquerade At New York Anime Festival 2008

The Sponsor:
The New York Anime Festival's Masquerade is sponsored by the World Cosplay Summit. The World Cosplay Summit began in the fall of 2003. Born from the concept that cosplayers play a leading role in introducing Japanese manga and animation to people around the world, the event wanted to bring international cosplayers "home" to Japan to showcase their costumes and skill. The event is held annually with preliminary competitions taking place around the world and the Championships taking place each summer in Japan. Each year, judges include creators of some of Japan's most iconic anime and manga, and past judges have included Leiji Matsumoto, Go Nagai, and Monkey Punch. The winners of the World Cosplay Summit Masquerade crowned at the 2008 New York Anime Festival will fly to Japan to serve as Team USA in the 2009 Championships. For more, please visit http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/wcs/e/.

Masquerade Registration and Preliminary Selection:
To participate in the World Cosplay Summit Masquerade, you must fill out the Masquerade Registration Form and e-mail, fax, or mail it to the New York Anime Festival. All forms must be received by September 1, 2008.

The New York Anime Festival will review all applications and select 30 acts to participate and contact them by September 15. (Acts following World Cosplay Summit guidelines -- listed below -- will receive priority.)

All selected acts will receive a time between 11 AM and 3 PM on Saturday, September 27 to check-in and be interviewed for craftsmanship judging. All selected acts will need to, too, attend a rehearsal from 4 to 7 PM on Saturday, September 27.

The World Cosplay Summit Masquerade takes place from 7 to 10 PM on Saturday, September 27 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City as part of the New York Anime Festival.

Divisions:
The World Cosplay Summit Masquerade's judging will be divided into the following divisions:

• Youth : Groups with at least one entrant under 13 years of age.
• Novice : Groups with entrants who have won no major cosplay awards.
• Journeyman : Groups with at least one entrant who has won one to three major cosplay awards.
• Craftsman : Groups with at least one entrant who has won four or more major cosplay awards.

Prizes:
All Youth entrants will receive a Certificate of Participation. Novice, Journeyman, and Craftsman entrants will all be judged based on both their costumes and performances. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place winners from the Novice, Journeyman, and Craftsman categories will be announced at the close of the World Cosplay Summit Masquerade as will Team USA -- the team competing in the World Cosplay Summit Championships.

1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place winners will all receive prize packages.

All groups in the Novice, Journeyman, and Craftsman divisions meeting the World Cosplay Summit qualifications (described later on) are eligible to be crowned Team USA.

Team USA will be flown to Japan (travel and lodging paid for by the World Cosplay Summit and New York Anime Festival) to compete in the 2009 World Cosplay Summit Championships.

General Submission Guidelines:
There are a few basic rules we ask all World Cosplay Summit Masquerade entrants to follow.

• All participants must have a valid New York Anime Festival badge (this includes Exhibitor, Press, or Professional badges).
• Participants must bring in reference material to familiarize judges with their characters.
• Participants must wear costumes. Naked isn't a costume.
• Skits must be PG-13 or less.
• Only costumes made by the wearer or a member of their group are eligible for Craftsmanship consideration.
• Participants may not wear the same costume in the Hall Costume Contest and Masquerade.
• Performances will be limited to 3 minutes in length.
• Groups will be limited to 6 people or less.
• All audio for performances must be provided on a CD at the time of check-in. There will be no microphone for skits on stage.
• Costumes and skits must be connected to anime but they need not directly be from an anime. Entrants can participate with costumes from manga, console games, MMORPGs, J-Pop, etc.
• Whatever you bring on stage, you must take off stage. Do not leave a mess.

World Cosplay Summit Submission Guidelines:
If you wish to compete for a trip to Japan to represent the USA in the World Cosplay Summit Championships, these additional guidelines MUST be followed.

• Costumes MUST be from Japanese anime, manga, or video games.
• Costumes MUST be made by the wearer or a member of their group.
• Contestants MUST enter as teams of two.
• Contestants MUST be 18 or older as of September 27, 2008.
• Contestants MUST be citizens of the United States.
• Contestants MUST be available to travel to Japan between July 20 and August 10, 2009.

Judging:
All teams participating in the World Cosplay Summit Masquerade will be given scores by New York Anime Festival judges for Performance and Craftsmanship. The teams with the highest total scores in each division will be awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

In addition, teams competing to go to the World Cosplay Summit Championships will also be given a score for the faithfulness of their costumes and performances to their source material. These teams will be judged by the York Anime Festival as well as a judge coming from the World Cosplay Summit.

World Cosplay Summit Championships:
The highest-scoring team that complies with the World Cosplay Summit guidelines will win a trip to Japan in 2009 to participate in the World Cosplay Summit Championships as Team USA. Both team members will be asked to bring three costumes to Japan and will need to refine their existing skit or develop a new performance for the Championship. (Both team members must cosplay as characters from the same series in their Championship performance.)

The second-highest-scoring team that complies with the World Cosplay Summit guidelines will serve as alternates in the event that the highest-scoring team cannot participate.

Weapon Policy:
Please read our weapon policy before bringing any prop or replica weapons to the New York Anime Festival.

Coat Check:
Since the New York Anime Festival takes place in September, you may be curious if there'll be a coat check. Yes. The Jacob Javits Center will operate a coat check open to all Masquerade participants and attendees.

Questions:
Have a question about the World Cosplay Summit Masquerade ? Not sure about something? Need more information? Is so, please contact Peter Tatara at ptatara@reedexpo.com

Get To Work:
We've given you the ground rules. Now, astonish us. This is your chance to show America, Japan, and the world just how amazing you can be!

You can download the World Cosplay Summit Masquerade Registration Form here.