WORLD COSPLAY SUMMIT CHAMPIONSHIP
UK PRELIMINARIES AT PLAY EXPO - RULES
1. OVERVIEW
The World Cosplay Summit Championship is an
international cosplay competition taking place as
part of the World Cosplay Summit gathering
(hereafter referred to as WCS) in Japan. The 2014 UK
WCS preliminaries will take place at Play Expo on
Saturday, 12th October 2013.
2. PRIZE
One pair of cosplayers will be chosen to represent
the United Kingdom at the World Cosplay Summit,
taking place in Nagoya, Japan in August 2014.
4. PASSPORT REQUIREMENTS
a)
b) Contestants who are resident in the UK but
are not British citizens, must provide a valid
passport and documents proving their
residency in the UK (such as a household bill
or bank statement).
5. COSTUMES
a)
The winning contestants will receive an
expenses-paid trip to Japan including flights, hotel
and some food costs.
3. ELIGIBILITY
a)
The competition is open to cosplayers who
are holders of a valid UK passport and/or a
permanent resident of the UK and will be
aged 18 or over by 1st July 2014.
b) Contestants must enter as a pair, and their
costumes must be from the same series or
source.
c)
Contestants must be available to travel to
the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, Japan
for one week during late July – early August
2014.
Contestants who are British citizens must
be the holder of a British passport.
Costumes entered must be at least 75%
handmade. Any parts which have not been
made by the contestant (e.g. made by their
friends or family) must be mentioned to the
judges during pre-judging.
b) Only costumes based on characters from
Japanese manga, anime, video games and
sentai shows (e.g. Power Rangers) are
allowed in the contest.
c)
The characters represented must be of
Japanese origin. For example, characters
from Disney or Star Wars which have been
featured in a Japanese game are not
permitted.
d) Costumes based on original designs, fan-art
and live-action movies are also not allowed.
e)
The winning contestants must each bring
3-4 costumes with them to the Summit –
one for the Osu Cosplay Parade, one for the
WCS Championship competition and one
for photo shoots and media interviews.
h) The only people permitted backstage during
the final are: the two national cosplay
representatives, one national organiser, and
one interpreter.
i)
No assistance will be given by TV Aichi or
the organiser during the stage performance.
However, the WCS staff will help with
setting up props on stage.
j)
Any musical or audio accompaniment must
be prepared by the teams themselves. The
only audio material permitted is that which
has been recorded onto a CD.
6. PRE-JUDGING & PROGRESS BOOK
a)
All cosplayers taking part in the WCS
Preliminaries at Play Expo are asked to
attend a pre-judging session before the
contest. This is just so you can have a chat
with the judges and show them how you
made your costume.
b) All contestants must bring a progress book
with them to the pre-judging. This must
contain at least 5 in-progress photos per
costume and a few notes, showing how you
made the costume.
k) Please note that use of the voice(s) of
voice actor(s) from original films,
games or anime is prohibited as an
audio accompaniment for both the UK
preliminaries and finals.
c)
l)
Your progress book can be as simple or as
complicated as you like. You can include
extras like diagrams or fabric samples if you
want to.
d) Progress books must be in hard copy (i.e.
printed or written) format. The judges will
keep the books for judging and they will not
be returned to contestants.
m) The order of performances will be
determined by a random draw once all
contestants have arrived in Japan.
8. WCS CHAMPIONSHIP: SAFETY
a)
7. WCS CHAMPIONSHIP: PERFORM ANCE
e)
f)
g)
At the championship final in Japan, each
team will have 2 minutes 30 seconds to
perform on stage, with an additional 40
seconds for set-up and clear up time.
Performances and costumes entered at the
WCS Championship may be the same as, or
different from, those entered at the
national qualifier. Where giving the same
performance, participants should work on
the content to improve it for the finals.
Any changes made to costume or
performance MUST be agreed with both the
HYPER JAPAN Cosplay Team and WCS
organisers.
It is not permitted to use video footage with
your performance.
It is permitted to throw or scatter items
onto the stage during the WCS
Championship. However, the stage itself
must not be made dirty.
b) Performances may not be given from the
audience seating.
c)
Fire based special effects are prohibited.
8. WCS CHAMPIONSHIP: PROPS
a)
Contestants may use up to three large
props and extra small props as part of their
performance at the WCS Championship.
b) All equipment, costumes and props for the
Championship performance are limited to a
maximum weight of 40 kilograms,
combined for both performers.
c)
Winning contestants are required to bear
the cost of any overweight luggage charges
for costumes and other items. It is not
possible to ship the items to Japan
beforehand.
with the other World Cosplay Summit
participants to ensure the event’s success.
11. IM AGE COPYRIGHT
a)
d) Wigs are included in the total weight
limit of 40kg. However, make-up sets
which will not be solely used for the
championship performance, are not.
e) All large props set on stage before the
Championship performance begins are
limited to a maximum weight of 10kg.
f)
Prop dimensions are limited to 210cm in
height, 210cm in width and 90cm in
depth.
g)
You may not copy any official
illustrations or logos onto your
equipment or props.
9. WCS CHAMPIONSHIP: JUDGING
The jury at the final will award points for Costume,
Performance and Fidelity to the original source.
a)
Costumes will be judged on their overall
finish, accuracy and resemblance to the
original character.
b) Performances will be judged on their
creativity, entertainment value, and
contestants’ acting and performance ability.
c)
Fidelity will be judged on the extent to
which each team’s performance is faithful
to the story and characterization of the
original source material.
10. WCS CHAMPIONSHIP: CONDUCT
a)
Participating cosplayers must co-operate
with TV Aichi and the WCS organisers while
in Japan. This includes attending all
necessary press conferences, photo shoots
and promotional activities.
b) Participating cosplayers must co-operate
All images and photographs of the
preliminary selection at Play Expo are the
property of Replay Events and Cross Media.
No fee will be paid for the use of such
media for promotional purposes (e.g. TV
programmes, websites, newspapers,
magazines, leaflets etc).
b) All image rights relating to any and all
media coverage during the WCS
promotional period and leading up to the
event itself, including but not limited to
material from media interviews, newspaper
and magazine PR, and participation in
promotional events, belong to WCS Inc. and
TV Aichi.
c)
After the World Cosplay Summit, media
material including but not limited to images
and photographs of participating cosplayers
taken during the Summit may be used for
TV programmes, websites, DVD production
and other purposes. No fee will be paid to
the cosplayer(s) portrayed for use of such
media. Cosplayers are required to sign the
necessary waiver.
12. DISCLAIMER
The World Cosplay Summit reserves the right to alter
or amend the rules at any time.
HOW TO ENTER
Once you have read and understood the rules,
please download the cosplay contest entry form at
www.playexpo.net/cosplay, fill it out and send it to
cosplay@playexpo.net between
23rd August and 5th October 2013.
Online entry only – we will not be accepting
on-the-day entries for WCS.
If you have any questions, please email
wcs@playexpo.net. Best of luck!