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Welcome Cosplayers!
Cosplay Craftsmanship Competition
Cosplay Craftsmanship Competition
Cosplay Craftsmanship Competition
Showcasing the art of costume creation, the Cosplay Craftsmanship Competition celebrates skill, creativity, and attention to detail. Participants are judged on construction, accuracy, and originality—highlighting the dedication behind every stitch, seam, and prop.
Cosplay Performance Competition
Cosplay Craftsmanship Competition
Cosplay Craftsmanship Competition
A stage for storytelling and showmanship, the Cosplay Performance Competition highlights dynamic skits, dramatic scenes, and character portrayals. Contestants bring their favorite characters to life through acting, movement, and creativity.
Idol Fest
Cosplay Craftsmanship Competition
Meet Our Cosplay Guests
More information coming soon!
Meet Our Cosplay Guests
Cosplay Craftsmanship Competition
Meet Our Cosplay Guests
Get to know the talented cosplay guests and expert judges joining us! From seasoned performers to award-winning creators, they bring experience, passion, and insight to this year's event.
General Cosplay Contest guidelines
Cosplay Contest Categories:
The Cosplay Contest consists of two categories: Craftsmanship & Performance. Entrants may choose to compete in one or both categories if they qualify. Exhibition entries (formerly the Cosplay Showcase) will be allowed for those who wish to walk the stage but did not make their costume.
General Cosplay Contest Guidelines:
● You will be required to check-in in person, attend craftsmanship judging (if applicable), and will be called to the show early for run through and show order placement. Expect this to take up a lot of your Saturday of the convention.
● All cosplay participants, (including minor guardians, handlers, ninjas, etc.) must be registered attendees of the convention. Full-time staff, cosplay contest sponsors, and guests for Anime Aki Con 2025 are not eligible for awards but are welcome to participate in the Exhibition portion of our show.
● This event is rated PG and we are a family-friendly convention. No blatant nudity, adult language or adult-related content. Please use discretion with your character, props, and presentation.
● Purchased and rented costumes are not eligible for competition in the Craftsmanship Category, but are welcome to be entered into the Performance Category or Exhibition.
● Youth participants (ages 14 and under) must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.
● Your entry must be finished before you get to the green room. No sewing, gluing, spray painting, welding, or other construction work is allowed backstage. Final assembly of large pieces and/or props and unexpected repairs will be allowed.
● Participants will be required to sign a liability release and a release for use of video and photo images.
● For safety reasons, the following are not allowed:
○ Live animals - except service animals. ESAs do not apply.
○ Substances which might damage or soil
○ Aerosol sprays
○ Projectiles of any kind
○ No pyrotechnics will be allowed including, but not limited to: fire, flash powder, explosives, smoke bombs, or fireworks
○ Entries that could potentially damage the Convention Center facilities, other participants, or the wearer will not be allowed.
○ Illegal weapons of any kind are not allowed.
○ Prop weapons used as part of the costume are allowed with restrictions. You are expected to act responsible with your weapon. If you decide to carry a weapon, by attending you accept any legal and financial responsibility for damage your weapon may cause to persons or property.
○ You may not at ANY time point a prop weapon that would have projectiles if real at any person (firearm, bow, crossbow, etc.)
● Entries with electrical power requirements need to be self-contained. There will be no access to electrical outlets on stage.
● Surprise the audience, not the Cosplay staff. If you are planning something completely different, let us know well in advance. All information will be held in the strictest confidence.
● Smoking is not allowed in the Convention Center. Contestants who leave the building for a smoke break after their call time may lose their turn to appear on stage.
● All contestants must be able to move their costume on their own. If you need a handler, please include that information in your application.
● All participants are expected to adhere to any general rules implemented by Anime Aki Con or the Embassy Suites by Hilton East Peoria Riverfront Hotel and Convention Center, Illinois state and Federal laws, and ordinances determined by the city of East Peoria and Tazewell County at all times during the event.
● Anime Aki Con will not tolerate any discrimination or harassment of contestants, judges, or staff. This type of behavior will result in a ban from the contest.
● Anime Aki Con will not tolerate poor sportsmanship. If you are found to be harassing contestants or judges, bullying or putting down others you will be banned from competing in the future.
● If you are found cheating in Anime Aki Con’s contest, you will be stripped of any awards won and banned from competing in the future.
● Cosplay Directors have the right to eliminate any entry from the competition on the basis of taste, danger to the audience, building or yourself, violation of any of the posted rules, or any other reason deemed sufficient. Cosplay Directors have the right to add, remove, or make any adjustment to the rules as they see fit at any time.
Awards:
1st Place Craftsmanship: $100, one (1) badge for each participant for Anime Aki Con 2026, additional items TBD.
2nd Place Craftsmanship: One (1) badge for each participant for Anime Aki Con 2026, additional items TBD.
3rd Place Craftsmanship: One (1) badge for each participant for Anime Aki Con 2026, additional items TBD.
1st Place Performance: $100, one (1) badge for each participant for Anime Aki Con 2026, additional items TBD.
2nd Place Performance will be added if we have more than 5 performance entries in the snow and will consist of one (1) badge for each participant for Anime Aki Con 2026, additional items TBD.
Judges’ Choice Awards: One (1) award certificate per judge to be given at their discretion to either a Craftsmanship or Performance entry.
Additional minor awards may be added at the discretion of the Cosplay Directors and/or Convention Chairs.
Cosplay craftsmanship competition
Craftsmanship Category Rules:
● Entrants will be judged on the overall appearance of their cosplay and quality of the construction of the costume. Purchased costumes may not compete in this category, but costumes do not need to be worn by the creator so long as the costume creator is present at the convention and in pre-judging. Factors not considered in craftsmanship judging include race, gender, disability status, sexuality/ religious or non-religious identities, physical likeness to character, how much money or time is spent, etc. Assessment is based on the quality of execution of the costume.
● Anime Aki Con requires that at least 50% of your costume has been created from scratch or altered in a significant manner to quality as made by you.
○ If a costume includes a combination of created & purchased items, any purchased pieces must be disclosed to the judges on your entry form. Judges will determine your eligibility.
○ Thrifted, purchased, or found items need to be at least 75% physically altered to qualify as part of craftsmanship.
○ Although the minimum requirement is 50% made by you please note that people will likely do more than 50%. The more you make yourself the more of your costume can be judged by the judges.
○ Please be safe and logical in crafting choices: you are not expected to make underwear, cobble shoes, paint contacts, or sew wigs from scratch.
○ Craftsmanship Judges will determine the eligibility of a costume for the craftsmanship contest as it pertains to the 50% rule.
● Walk-ons are limited to 30 seconds in length and will be backed by a stock audio track. Custom audio for walk-ons is not available at this time.
● Sandbagging:
○ You may not enter a costume that has previously been on stage for an Anime Aki Con Cosplay Contest.
○ You may not enter a costume that has won an international preliminary or has received any award in an international costume contest final.
○ You are welcome to enter a costume that has already won a major award providing the award was obtained at a convention of less than 10,000 attendees.
○ You may not enter a costume that has won more than 2 placement awards, regardless of the size of the convention
○ A costume is considered a “new” costume if you have remade 50% or more of the costume from scratch. Thrifting does not count in this case. You will need to supply proof of remakes and upgrades to the costume.
○ The Cosplay Directors will determine eligibility of a costume in terms of prior awards.
● Genre:
○ Most genres of media are accepted, including fan art and original designs.
○ GORE: Keep in mind this contest is PG, likely we will have children in both the contest and present in the audience. We caution you from entering costumes that reveal significant violence or gore (ex: Mouthwash). Anime Aki Con has the right to restrict you from going on stage due to these factors.
○ 18+ Material: We caution you from entering costumes that are from 18+ shows if the costume is significantly revealing or displays content that would not be
suitable for all audiences. All private areas must be fully covered by your costume including buttocks. Dance tights do count as coverage providing nothing is being revealed through them. Anime Aki Con has the right to restrict you from going on stage due to these factors.
● Divisions:
○ In the event that the show is close to filling we may implement divisions based on skill. On the application we will ask you questions that will help us place you in the correct division.
○ In the event we implement divisions, your division may be changed to a higher division at the discretion of the Cosplay Directors or Craftsmanship Judges in order to create a fair competition.
○ Youth Division - There is no Youth Division. Children are welcome to compete in craftsmanship accompanied by an adult but there is no craftsmanship category that is separate for youth participants.
● Jurying: In the event that craftsmanship spots fill, entrees will be juried. This means that craftsmanship applications will be reviewed and cosplay crafters will be selected based on their level of preparedness and assigned skill division
How to Sign Up:
On-line sign-ups for both the Craftsmanship & Performance portions of the Cosplay Contest will go live on our website on August 1, 2025 and close September 30, 2025. Craftsmanship slots that do not fill on-line will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the convention as long as craftsmanship judging spots remain. Performances can only be registered prior to the convention utilizing the on-line form. Exhibition (Cosplay Showcase) entries will only be collected in-person at the convention
Cosplay performance Competition
Performance Category Rules:
● Entrants will be judged on their acting, representation, creativity, and performance techniques.
● Purchased costumes are welcome to compete in this category.
● Groups or individuals that are doing performances for the Performance category may request to be judged on Craftsmanship as well, but no one can go on stage a second time to be judged separately for Craftsmanship.
● In the event that performance spots fill, performances will be juried. This means that performance applications will be reviewed and performers will be selected based on their level of preparedness, uniqueness of act, how well their act fits the show, and overall quality.
○ It is highly recommended due to the possibility of jurying that you include a video of your performance for review as a write up. However, this is NOT required. Your video does not need to be on a stage, professional quality, or even in costume. We just need to see what you plan to do.
● Time limit is 2 minutes 30 seconds with no exceptions. You may use less time, but additional time will not be granted. We will allow 30 seconds for set-up and 30 seconds to get off stage.
● If you present something different than what you submitted and was screened, you will be disqualified. Surprise the audience, not the Anime Aki Con staff.
● Recorded audio is required if you want to speak, sing, or have music. No live microphones will be available.
● Audio must be submitted pre-cut and edited in an mp3 format. No Youtube links. We will not cut or edit your audio for you. Any files submitted that are longer than 2.5 minutes will simply be stopped at 2.5 minutes.
● Audio must be submitted prior to the convention via Google Drive. We highly recommend you bring a backup file on a USB drive just in case.
● Performances are PG. No swearing, lewd gestures or jokes, sexual or violent content. All swear words must be bleeped out from any music you choose. Failure to do so will result in your not going on stage as we will preview all files beforehand.
● 18+ Material: We caution you from entering material that is from 18+ shows or use of mature music if the content of your performance or the use of direct source material/song is also 18+ in nature (ex: Hazbin Hotel’s song “Poison”).
● Stage Size is 8’ deep by 18’ long. Usable space is likely closer to 5’ in depth. Please keep this in mind when blocking. Contestants will be able to walk the stage during run through immediately preceding audience seating for the show.
● Groups are limited to 3 people due to stage size.
● Set pieces are allowed but will be restricted in size due to storage space and size of the stage. Please include your set dimensions in your application.
● You may not go out into the audience during your performance. Please keep your performance contained to the stage. Failure to do so will result in disqualification.
● No live weapons allowed.
● Due to the temporary nature and size of the stage, please refrain from running, jumping, acrobatics, or stage combat of any kind. If you would like to incorporate one of these elements into your performance and believe you can do so safely, please reach out to us at cosplay@anime-akicon.com for further discussion.
● The Cosplay Directors may ask you to make alterations to your performance based on the appropriateness for the show, stage space, safety, or any other reason they deem fit. Failure to comply may result in disqualification.
How to Sign Up:
On-line sign-ups for both the Craftsmanship & Performance portions of the Cosplay Contest will go live on our website on August 1, 2025 and close September 30, 2025. Craftsmanship slots that do not fill on-line will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the convention as long as craftsmanship judging spots remain. Performances can only be registered prior to the convention utilizing the on-line form. Exhibition (Cosplay Showcase) entries will only be collected in-person at the convention.