1. All participants must have an AACC member badge (This includes Associate Dealer, Press, and other specialty badges) currently, members of the AACC staff are ineligible to compete in the 2013 Costume Contest.
2. There will be an online registration for the 2013 contest. Those who register online will be able to sign up for a pre-judging time slot on Saturday January 26th 2013. Friday January 25th 2013 at Noon will be the cut off time for all online registration. Pre-judging will take place between the hours of 12 noon and 3pm on Saturday January 26th. Information for the room location of the prejudging will be available at the information desk near the main ticket registration counters. If you do not register online prior to the cut off time, you can sign up for a time to come to the pre judging at the same information table. In person registration will start on Friday the 25th at the same information table up until noon of Saturday the 26th. Once assigned a time, please be punctual and courteous of the judges as well as your fellow contestant’s time.
3. Entries will be separated into two categories:
a. Novice – Contestants who have won less than 2 major cosplay/costume awards at any convention.
b. Experienced – contestants who have won 2 or more major cosplay/costume awards at any convention.
4. Groups may be allowed to enter the contest but will be judged as if the entire group were as 1 person entering.
5. Costumes that have won any major awards at any convention may not be entered into the 2013 AACC Costume Contest. Awards of ranking include but are not limited to, “Best in show”, “Best in Division”, or “First Place”, “Second place” etc.
a. Awards such as “Judges Award”, “Honorable Mentions” and similar forms are not considered major awards for the purposes of this contest.
6. Each entry’s appropriate category will be determined by its participant with the highest number of cosplay/costume awards in pertaining to group entries. For example, an entry consisting of 3 persons with 2 participants not having any awards but the 3rd participant has won 2 or more major awards, the group will be placed into the “Experienced” category.
7. All contestants must be at least 13 years of age to enter. Exceptions can be made on a case by case basis by the panel of judges, one of which will be determined by majority vote.
8. Pictures will be taken during the “Performance” portion of the Judging process of the participants. These pictures may be used by Jay Company Comics for promotion of future events and contests.
9. This is an open genre costume contest. Genres include but no limited to:
a. Zombies, Sci-Fi, Anime, Comics, Novels, Steam Punk, TV, and Film.
10. All costumes must abide by the rules of the convention dress code and weapons policy. If a policy violation is discovered by any of the AACC staff or judges panel, that entry will be disqualified.
11. No glitter, confetti, pyrotechnics, live flame or smoke generators of any kind are allowed in the convention center.
12. No electrical power connections will be provided. If your costume requires power, it must be part of your costume.
13. Purchased costumes are prohibited from entering the contest. However, exceptions can be made for costumes that contain “found” pieces, “modified” or in other words altered from its original design or purpose. Although this may effect the total craftsmanship score of the participant, it is not meant to discourage participants from entering the contest. Costumes that are considered as “kits” are allowed so long as kit was assembled by the participant. All participants should be prepared to briefly explain the process though which their costume was created, altered, or modified. Costume(s) should be 70% “hand-made”
14. All entries are strongly encouraged to bring reference material for their costume(s). While we will not turn away entries who do not bring reference material, the absence of reference could affect your final score. Not all judges know all characters and creatures, so it’s in everyone’s best interest to bring a color photo (or several) if at all possible. If costume is an original design, then reference images of inspiration or in cases of characters from novels, a printed description from the literary work will be most helpful. Digital devices may be used to present reference photos to the judging panel.
15. Each contestant may present or wear one and only one costume, or in cases of group entries, each member may wear one costume per person or may wear one costume together (i.e. large costumes that require several people inside to move it.)
16. Should a participant decide to enter but chose not to model their costume, or rather have it be presented by a model, the designer must be present at all stages of the contest and be prepared to explain how the costume had be created.
17. Performance portion of the Contest:
a. Your costume must allow you the freedom of movement so that you can go up steps. Should assistance be needed, you may have up to two assistants help you but they will not be provided by the AACC staff.
b. You must remain in the main Ballroom for the entirety of the contest.
Please arrive early and before the contest starts. You will have designated areas for waiting pre and post judging during the Performance phase of the contest. Please listen to the directions given by the AACC volunteers and be respectful to your fellow contestants. If you have special needs, please let the judges’ panel be aware at the pre-judging portion of the contest.
c. Each participant will have 60 seconds of time to perform on stage. This is your time to shine. So make the best of it.
d. In cases of groups, for each additional person, you are granted an additional 30 seconds, not to exceed 3 minutes. For example 2 participants will be granted 1 ½ minutes, 3 persons are granted 2 minutes and so forth.
e. If an entrant wishes to provide their own audio, it MUST be burned on a CD with the predetermined portion of the audio track you wish to play ready to play on track 1. Your name or group must be clearly legible on the CD. The Audio CD MUST be presented upon pre-judging, no exceptions. Should you not wish to provide an audio track for the performance portion of the contest, the AACC Contest staff can provide basic audio for your allotted time. All CD’s presented will not be returned to participants.
18. Prize breakdown
a. Novice:
i. 1st- $75 Cash, Certificate/Trophy, Free Admission to AACC 2014
ii. 2nd- $50 Cash, Certificate of Award
iii. 3rd – $25 Cash, Certificate of Award
b. Experienced:
i. 1st- $200 Cash, Certificate/Trophy, Free Admission to AACC 2014
ii. 2nd-$100 Cash, Certificate of Award
iii. 3rd-$50 Cash, Certificate of Award.
19. While no changes to these rules are foreseen, certain circumstances may require the rules or times be changed. Any changes will be noted in bold and all capitalization. A copy of these rules will be posted at the information table on Friday and Saturday of the convention.
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