Cosplay Masquerade

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The Cosplay Masquerade is VCON's way of acknowledging just how much our fan community loves a great costume. Whether you think of it as a costuming, cosplay or just dressing up; whether the costume was sewn by hand, pieced together with items bought at thrift stores and garage sales or a little bit of both; whether you become a princess, a pirate or a super hero; the Masquerade is the place where you can strut your stuff.

Questions? Please contact the VCON Masquerade Director at masq{click-to-expand}@vcon.ca .

Sections:
Registration | Categories | Rules | Judging

Registration

Already know you'll have a costume ready to go? Want to be sure we know you want to strut your best costume across our stage?

Fill in the Cosplay Masquerade Registration form!

Not sure if you'll have your costume finished? Not yet convinced you want to try earning prizes for your creativity and hard work? Not to worry. The Masquerade Director will be running an in-person registration desk so you can register on Friday and Saturday at the convention.

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Categories

Prizes will be awarded to costumes in each of the following categories, so long as there is at least one costume that falls under the category.

  • Best in Show
  • Best Anime
  • Best Comic Book
  • Best Steampunk
  • Best Media-inspired (movie, TV, book, video game, etc.)
  • Best Original Concept
  • Best Construction and Design.

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Rules

Failure to follow these rules will result in disqualification.

  1. Costumes may be handmade, or made up of purchased pieces and accessories that have been re-purposed, or a combination of both.
    • Costumes that have been purchased as a complete unit will not be accepted as they are not in the spirit of the Masquerade, which is to show entrants' talents and creativity.
  2. All Masquerade entrants must have a valid VCON Membership on the day of the presentation.
  3. Presentations must be between 20 seconds and 5 minutes long.
  4. To have music or dialogue accompany your presentation, you must pre-record it
    • You MUST bring a digital copy of your audio track on some kind of media (CD, DVD, flash drive, etc.) when you register so that the track can be reviewed, approved, and loaded onto our equipment.
    • Once approved, the media with your digital copy will be held by the staff until the end of the Masquerade in case the track has to be re-copied for any reason.
    • On your tech sheet, you must indicate when the track is to be played during your performance.
    • Untested, unapproved, new or changed media tracks will not be accepted after registration has closed.
  5. Microphones may NOT be used by the contestants.
    • The emcee will read from a prepared text if one is provided and approved upon registration.
    • Except for the written emcee introduction, all audio material must be pre-recorded (see previous rule).
    • Contestants should be aware that anything spoken onstage, without amplification, cannot be heard in the hall and may not even be audible at the judges' table located directly in front of the stage.
  6. If you plan to carry a weapon, you must conform to the following:
    • Transportation of weapons to and from the Masquerade must follow the convention's weapon policy.
    • No illegal or loaded weapons.
    • No whips may be used onstage.
    • You must demonstrate that you can carry the weapon without injury to yourself or others.
  7. This is a family oriented costume show, therefore:
    • No profanity allowed. Please be polite.
    • No nudity allowed. No costume is no costume.

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Judging

The Judges award a score of 0 to 10 for each of 3 attributes for each contestant:

Originality/Adaptation

Is this the most original concept the judges and audience have seen, or the best adaptation of a known concept?

For example, a contestant made a "super hero" costume out of gold lame placemats; another contestant had a completely authentic Alien costume, down to the dripping mouth drool.

Note to contestants: describe the inspiration for your costume in your emcee announcement.

Composition

Did someone go out and quickly buy stuff and throw it together, or did the contestant spend hours choosing, gluing, sewing, welding, etc?

For example, a contestant had hand-sewn thousands of yards of lace to make a beautiful historical costume; another contestant had hand-hammered hundreds of metal rings for chain mail.

Note to contestants: tell us how long it took and the craftsmanship required in your emcee announcement — blow your own horn!

Presentation

Does the contestant stay perfectly in character or do something so completely out of character that it grabs the audience' attention?

For example, the Alien guy made a little sign that he whipped out after he had menacingly advanced towards the emcee — the sign said "Ripley Sucks"; two contestants in historically correct medieval attire slowly crossed the stage while giving the royal wave and nod to their subjects — the audience all felt like their subjects; a group came out in Klingon makeup-with Kiss make up on top and declared themselves to be a Klingon Kiss rock band.

Note to contestants: get into character and stay there, or find a way to exploit or turn your character into the unexpected and grab the audience — humour often helps.

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