Registrations for the Fashion Show, Masquerade, and Super Idol Show are OPEN
Please note: There is no on-site registration for these events. For groups, only one person in the group needs to fill out the form
KATSUCON COSPLAY FASHION SHOW
Click Here to Register for the Cosplay Fashion Show
All participants must have a Katsucon badge (this includes Associates, Merchants or other convention badges).
Contestants will be judged according to their costume’s resemblance to the character it is based on, representation of their costume, and runway performance.
Signups occur online. Online registrants still need to check-in during designated check-in times. It will be limited to the first 30 confirmed entries. “Confirmed” means they have been contacted by the Cosplay Staff and have replied to the contact and given a reference number. If you pre-register and are unable to attend, please inform the coordinator as soon as possible.
You must check-in during Check-in Times; if you do not check-in you forfeit your entry. This is where Cosplay staff are notified of who you are, and you will be given information critical to when you will be on stage. The coordinator will pass on any last-minute changes, we will take at-con signups, and we will be available for any further questions you may have. Check-in is mandatory. The times and places for check-in are to be determined.
This year Fashion show will be held during the Masquerade judging period. The fashion show is open to anyone who is interested in showing off their amazing costumes. Cosplayers will be lined up first come first serve order to minimize downtime in Main Events. Please show up at the start of Masquerade. All cosplayers are responsible for their own punctuality. There are no exceptions.
- All participants must have a Katsucon badge (as specified above).
- Since the fashion show is not a judged event the same costume may be worn from the Hall Cosplay contests and is encouraged.
- All costumes are permitted as well as original costumes & fashion designs.
- All clothing & costumes must abide by the rules of the convention.
- If a costume is deemed unacceptable for the convention according to established policies, it will not be allowed in the Cosplay Fashion Show.
- Please review the dress code, weapons policy, and other important rules.
- No electrical power connections will be provided. If your costume requires power, it must be part of your costume design.
- No explosives, special effects, messy substances, profanity, political, or religious statements or signage are allowed during the fashion show.
- Every component of the contestant’s costume must leave with them after their walk-on or skit is completed.
- Each contestant or group is only allowed one entry.
- This is a non-judged event. The Fashion show is to show off your amazing costume and be seen by all the attendees.
- The Cosplay Fashion Show Department Head has the authority to request a change to a costume for any reason. Refusal to make the requested change will disqualify the person or group from the competition.
- All decisions of the Cosplay Fashion Show Department Head are final.
Click Here to Register for the Cosplay Fashion Show
KATSUCON MASQUERADE
The Masquerade is Saturday’s big costuming event! Come cheer on your peers or become part of the show! Participants will showcase their craftsmanship skills from any genre of costuming in a performance for all to view. Don’t miss this premiere event!
In addition to the performance, participants are also judged on craftsmanship. Craftsmanship judging is optional, but it will affect the overall score. Please indicate if the entry will partake in craftsmanship judging on the Masquerade registration form.
Skill Divisions
- Youth: Open to all participants aged 12 or younger. Any “Youth” presentation, or walk-on containing non-Youth competitors, will be moved out of Youth and into the appropriate non-Youth category.
- Beginner: Open to competitors who have won 2 Major Awards or less as a Beginner. If you have ever won in any division higher than Beginner in any competition, you may not enter at Novice or lower.
- Intermediate: Open to competitors who have won 2 Major Awards or less as an Intermediate. If you have won more than 2 Major Awards as an Intermediate, you will need to enter the
- Advanced Division. If you have ever won in any division higher than Intermediate in any competition, you may not enter at Intermediate or lower.
- Advanced: Open to all
competitors who wish to compete at this level. *Professional Costumers must
compete in this division.
- *A Professional Costumer is defined as someone who makes over 50% of their income through costume making or commissions.
Each entry’s appropriate category is determined by the highest ranked division member of their group. For example, a group containing 1 Beginner, 3 Intermediate, and 1 Advanced, will be required to participate at the Advanced level.
For Division Placement Purposes: Awards of ranking, including but not limited to:
- “Best in Show,”
- “Best in Division,”
- “Best Performance or Craftsmanship,” or “First Place,” “Second Place,” etc. in any type of cosplay competition are considered Major Cosplay Awards.
- “Honorable Mentions,” “Judges’ Awards,” and similar forms of recognition are not considered major awards.
Participants may be bumped into a higher division at the Judges’ discretion. A competitor may choose to compete in a division higher than the one is eligible to enter. However, if the competitor receives an award in this higher division, they must continue to compete in that division (or higher) in future competitions.
General Rules
- Entrants must be registered to attend Katsucon.
- All entrants who are registering online for this event must be registered for Katsucon.
- This includes all members of group entries. Group leaders should verify all members have pre-registered for Katsucon before registering their skit for the Masquerade.
- This is a family friendly event. All performances & costumes are to be kept to a PG-13 level.
- No explicit gestures, nudity, swearing, dancing, etc.
- Participants are expected to behave onstage and backstage in an appropriately mature manner.
- All costumes and props are subject to the Katsucon Convention Policies.
- All props and backgrounds for the event MUST leave with you after the event is over. There is NO storing of props pre/post event at all in the backstage area.
- Anything you bring onstage with you must come off with you.
- No toilet paper, tissues, rice, water, etc.
- Fireworks, pyrotechnics, or any fire in general is not allowed.
- Respect the stage and leave it clean.
- Costume Size and Mobility: For safety reasons, over-sized costumes or props that cannot navigate the stairs & backstage area due to height, width, etc., may be asked to enter the Hall Costume Contest instead.
- You may have a handler if visibility or mobility is limited, but all persons & props must be able to get on and off the stage via the stage stairs without interrupting the event or causing undue delay for your fellow participants.
- Each participant may only be involved in one skit each. You cannot participate in multiple skits.
- Each group is limited to 10 people.
- This includes stage ninjas, as no more than 10 people are allowed on stage at any given time.
- Stage Ninjas ARE NOT counted towards the time limit.
- Failure to report for your sign-in, rehearsal, line-up times, and/or late to craftsmanship judging is grounds for CANCELLATION of your performance. Being late or not showing up throws everyone else off schedule.
- Exhibition Entries (non-competing) are allowed, but priority for slots will be given to competing participants.
- The Katsucon Masquerade Head has final say in all circumstances and disputes.
- Stay in the designated area to which you are assigned.
- Anyone found loitering in areas that are off limits will be subject to dismissal from the event and/or the convention itself.
- We will be accepting costumes from all genres, except for personal Original Designs.
- References must be publicly known or commercially distributed. Fan Art references will be on a case-by-case basis.
- Genres may include Anime, Cartoons, Video Games, Movies, Art books and Artwork, Comics and Graphic Novels.
- This is not limited to Asian origin or Asian influenced genres, so Ubisoft, Disney, Valve, DC, Marvel, Warner Bros., Star Wars, My Little Pony, Doctor Who, etc. will be allowed. Crossovers and mixed genres are also allowed.
- All entries must attend mandatory rehearsal on Saturday morning. Rehearsals will be done by appointment.
- Not showing up to your rehearsal time slot is forfeiting your right to perform.
- The stage dimensions are 32x99x28 ft
- Stage acrobatics: Because the stage is portable, it cannot take heavy abuse.
- Acrobatics or martial arts are not allowed.
- We will allow slower, choreographed, dance-like movements. Be sure to indicate such presentations when you register.
- Safety first! You don’t want to be that person that’s remembered for being sent to the hospital in front of the entire audience for doing something stupid!
- Microphones WILL NOT be provided.
- Pre-recording of dialogue & music is heavily advised, as the acoustics in the building are very rough.
- Live musical presentations are permitted– however they must be approved by the Masquerade Coordinator prior to the show.
- Audio MUST be submitted in .MP3 format.
- This is due before the convention.
- NO EXCEPTIONS
- Tell us in advance of anything “unique” you have planned in your presentation.
- We will do our best to accommodate your request but are limited in what we can do and allow.
- The more we know ahead of time, the more we can work with you.
- Waiting until check-in to ask for special clearance to do something is way too late!
- If the participant is underage, parents and/or legal guardians are permitted to stay with them during the performance.
- Character body pillows of any sort are not permitted in performances.
- Costumes that are being judged must be on a person or a mannequin in order to be judged.
Time Limits:
- Single to Dual participants: 1 minute 30 seconds.
- Group of 3-5 participants: 2 minutes.
- Group of 6-10 participants: 2:30 minutes.
Violating any Masquerade or Convention rules will disqualify you. A severe violation may result in immediate removal from the convention.
Katsucon Staff are not permitted to enter the competition.
PRINTED reference material is required. Even if a character is popular or well-known, reference material is needed to judge for accuracy. Lack of printed references will greatly affect scoring, as not every judge has knowledge of every detail of every character. Phones, laptops, tablets, and anything similar will NOT be accepted. It is highly suggested a thin folder with pockets or brads should be used to present your images. Progress pictures of construction work may also help but remember that judging time is very limited, and the judges do not have the time to look through pages upon pages of references and will revisit during the deliberation process. You are welcome to have the materials back after the Masquerade.
Registration
Click Here to Register for the Masquerade
Only one person in a group needs to fill out the form.
There is NO “at-con” registration for this event.
Masquerade Check-in
The group leader of a pre-registered entry must check in at the Cosplay check-in area during Masquerade check-in times. It is to confirm your entry, receive your Masquerade info passes, and go over any other details. Failure to show up during this time means your entry will be dropped.
Should you need to cancel your entry, please inform the Katsucon Masquerade Head as soon as possible. We completely understand last-minute issues, nerves, etc.
Awards
- Awards are broken down by Division, when applicable.
- Awards will be determined based on scores for each division and category, focusing on Craftsmanship and Presentation, and will be awarded at the Judges’ discretion.
- To be eligible for “Best in Show”, a group must have completed both Craftsmanship & Presentation judging.
- The Spirit Award will be given to the contestant that best represents Cos-positivity. If there are insufficient entries in a division or category, the judges have the right to not assign an award.
Helpful Hints
- Short and to the point is always more memorable. Just because you have a time limit, does not mean you have to fill that entire time given. Think of the presentation as a commercial for what you are sourcing. Keeping the audience’s attention focused is central to a presentation.
- Always run your presentation by someone who is not familiar with your source material and see if they ‘get’ it. If they are left scratching their head in confusion, then you may want to revise your idea.
- Remember that you want the poor guy stuck in the far back row to be able to understand and see what’s going on just as much as the person who snuck into the front row, so over-exaggerate movements and don’t clump up together if you can help it! If you can’t see what’s going on from at least 20 feet away (including reading signs), then you may want to rework your choreography (and invest in better sharpies/paint).
- Above all, make sure you have a beginning, middle, and end. Don’t just randomly break into song and then run off stage because you are not sure on how to end your skit!
- All participants are asked to have a Butterfly sticker on the back of their badge. If the participant’s badge is inspected by any Masquerade Staff and the participant is found to have brought their sticker as asked, you will be awarded with our appreciation for having read the rules entirely. Appreciation might be in the form of another sticker, a charm, a pin, a snack, a pat on the head, or even special consideration during our sacrificial ceremony (meaning it won’t be you we sacrifice to the cosplay overlords).
And finally-let’s have some fun!
Questions?
If after reading the above, you are still uncertain about what level you belong to, or if you have any questions, please contact us at: [email protected]
KATSUCON 2025 SUPER IDOL SHOW
Rules
“Get together a team of your best friends for Katsucon’s Idol show. This show is open to all idol groups from anime, cosplay, and original idols. This is a dance show for you to show off what your group has and perform with other idol groups. ”
This year’s show will not be judged to allow for more groups to perform. We want to see this event grow and we want this show to be all about you!
- Entrants must be registered to attend Katsucon. This includes all members of the group. Group leaders should verify that all members have registered for Katsucon prior to registering their group.
- This is a family friendly event; therefore, all performances and costumes will be kept to a PG-13 level. No explicit gestures, nudity, swearing/cursing. Participants are expected to behave onstage and backstage in an appropriate manner.
- All costumes and props are subject to the Katsucon Convention policies.
- Anything you bring on stage with you must come off with you. No toilet paper, tissue, rice, water, fireworks, pyrotechnics, or any fire in general isn’t allowed. Respect the stage and leave it clean.
- Make sure that props are appropriate for your performance and can be managed on stage safely.
- Each participant can only be in one group. You cannot participate in multiple groups.
- Each group is limited to 10 people.
- Failure to report to sign in is grounds for cancellation of your performance. Being late or not showing up throws everyone else off schedule so do not take this lightly.
- The Katsucon Idol Head has final say in all situations and disputes related to your performance.
- Stay in the designated area to which you are assigned. Anyone found loitering in areas that are off limits will be subject to dismissal from the event. Severe violations may result in the immediate removal from the convention.
- Stage acrobatics: Because the stage is portable, it cannot take heavy abuse. Acrobatics or martial arts are not permitted.
- Please submit audio in .mp3 format only. An e-mail will go out to all groups who pre-register for the event to turn in your audio.
- Tell us in advance of anything unique you have planned for your presentation. We will do our best to accommodate your request but are limited in what we can do and allow. The more we know ahead of time, the more we can work with you.
- Time Limits:
- 1-5 participants: 2 minutes
- 6-10 participants: 2:30
Violating any Idol or Convention rules will disqualify you. Severe violations may result in the immediate removal from the convention.
Idol Registration:
Click Here to Register for the Super Idol Show
Registration will close January 1st, 2025. Only one person in a group needs to fill out the form.
Idol Check In:
- The group leader of a pre-registered group must check in at the information booth on the Prince George Exhibition level during check-in times.
- It is to confirm you are present, and to make sure all your information is correct.
- Failure to show up during this time means your entry may be dropped.
- Should you need to cancel your entry, please inform the Katsucon Idol Head as soon as possible.
- We completely understand last minute issues, nerves, etc.. Audio MUST be delivered at this time if it was not already turned in.
