Rules

AnimeCon preliminaries

Team

• The team will be represented by two cosplayers.
• The team may consist of cosplayers from the BeNeLux and those owning a permanent residency card to any of these countries.

Costumes

• Your team must be in costumes from the same source.
• Your team must wear self-made costumes.
• You may use small props that were store bought.
• Your cosplay must be from an animated movie, anime, cartoon, comic, live action movie, manga, official art book, stage musical, TV series, video game or visual novel.
  Personal creations and fan art are not allowed.
• You are not allowed to compete at AnimeCon with a costume that has already won any prize at a national or international competition.
• Costumes previously used in any AnimeCon preliminary should be altered according to feedback by the judges.

Act 

• You must perform a brief act on stage that may not exceed 180 seconds.
• AI is not allowed in any way, though having someone else voice your lines or using a voice changer is allowed.
• Stage ninjas are allowed in some way: our staff can hand you a prop or item from backstage or press a button for you. Interaction with the cosplayers on stage is NOT allowed.
• Teams may not use any items that can spill on the stage, like bubbles, glitter, confetti etc.
• Teams may not use live fire, dry ice, live steel weapons or other things that could be a danger to yourself or others.
• For our cosplay weapons guidelines read the house rules. Dutch weapon law will always apply!
• You may not perform an act already done at AnimeCon, it needs to be a new performance.

Preparation

• Once entered, you will receive a form to fill in the details of your performance. This will have to be handed in on March 21st 23:59h at the latest.
• In this form you will have to provide: 
  - Script with cues
  - Work in Progress pictures from all parts of the costume and relevant props, 
  - Reference pictures, 
  - Any audio/video you want to use during the skit.
• In the case of 3D-printing: add a screenshot with history screen to your WiPs.

Preliminaries

• You must attend AnimeCon at least on the day of the preliminaries.
• You must be 18 years or older on the date of the preliminaries if you want to compete.
• Participating in our preliminaries will take up most of the day with rehearsals in the morning, judging in the afternoon and the competition right after that. Please keep this in mind when planning other activities.
• Dressing rooms and showers are provided by AnimeCon.
• In the case of cancelling your participation within two weeks of AnimeCon without a valid reason, you will not be able to sign up again for one year.

Judges

• AnimeCon’s Guest Relations team select an international panel of judges specialized in several skill sets. If you have any suggestions or questions, please direct them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• It’s not possible to correspond directly with the judges about the results of the cosplay competitions, but asking for feedback afterwards is encouraged.

Winners 

• Winning teams and solo contestants will receive an entry ticket to the next edition of AnimeCon.
• The AnimeCon cosplay competition sponsor CosplayShop Be should always be visible when posting award photos online.
• If one member of the winning team cannot go, a replacement will be chosen by the original team members in conjunction with Stichting J-Pop.
• If the whole team cannot go, the runner ups who were chosen by the judges will be informed.
• Final representatives are expected to read and uphold the rules and procedures of GICOF and behave in a responsible manner befitting guests to another country. Failure to do so by disregarding said rules, getting disqualified due to avoidable actions by the representatives or otherwise, will result in recouping any costs made by Stichting J-Pop.
   

GICOF finals

• You must be available for travel to Korea at the end of September/start of October.
• The winning team must present a valid passport as soon as able after the preliminary.
• Your flight and hotel will be paid for by GICOF and Stichting Japanse Popcultuur, the rest of your costs (food, drinks, trips, extra luggage, trip to-from the airport, etc.) will NOT be covered.
• It is possible to create a new cosplay for the final event. It is the contestants’ choice to do so.
• The performance at the finals can be the same as the performance given in the preliminary round, but if it is the same, you should try to improve upon it.
• Videos and background music should be produced by the cosplayers or be royalty free.
• One or two extra costumes should be brought along for extra events.
• For more information on GICOF, please visit: https://www.gicof.com/en/bicof