Cosplay

1. Only costumes handcrafted by the entrant are allowed to be entered into the Craftsmanship contest. Commissioned, store-bought, or thrifted costumes cannot compete. Most of the costume should be made from scratch or heavily altered.

2. Craftsmanship judging will be held on Friday evening and Saturday. Competitors may only enter 1 costume for craftsmanship. Preference for a Friday or Saturday time slot will be included in the application form.

- Entrants with a Friday judging time may participate in the Performance portion of the Masquerade. The costume used for performance does not have to be the same as submitted for craftsmanship.

- Entrants with a Saturday judging may compete only for craftsmanship, due to conflict with performance rehearsal.

3. Official designs or fan art designs of licensed characters from any media source are welcome to compete. Original characters will not be permitted. All entries must have accompanying reference materials brought to their judging appointment. Participants will be judged on faithfulness to the design in addition to craftsmanship.

4. If a costume will be modeled by someone else, the crafter of the costume is considered the entrant. They are the person who must submit the application, speak to the judges, and the one eligible for a craftsmanship award, not the person wearing the costume.

5. All craftsmanship awards will be presented during the Masquerade main event. Craftsmen are encouraged to participate in the Walk-On portion of the show with their entered costume, but it is not required. If the entrant cannot participate for any reason, please notify a judge or staff member during the scheduled judging session.

Junior: Participants 15 years of age or younger. This category is meant to encourage young participants to develop their crafting skills. As such, Junior entries must have made most of their own costume. Costumes made by adults for juniors cannot compete at the Junior level and must compete at the skill level of their creator.

Novice: You are new to costume making or have received no major awards*. Novices are expected to have hand-made or altered at minimum 50-60% of their cosplay. This category encompasses beginner cosplayers and first-time competitors who may already have foundational skills.

Journeyman: You have some experience in costume making or have received no more than 2 major awards. Journeymen are expected to demonstrate intermediate skill in several areas (fabrication, wig styling, textiles, detailed finishings, etc).

Master: You are an experienced costumer or have received 3 or more major awards. Masters are expected to show competence in applied skills and have made at minimum 80-90% of their cosplay.

1. Tekko is an all-ages event and performance material must reflect such. No explicit sexual references or gestures, obscene language, graphic violence, or nudity is permitted.

- All audio must be edited for content.

- Stage combat and other more physical things will need approval at rehearsal to ensure the safety of attendees and equipment.

- Anything that comes on the stage with you must leave the stage with you. Confetti, glitter, silly string, and other “messy” props are prohibited. Your performance must also be limited to the stage area.

2. Performers are required to be in cosplay or costume. Hand-made costumes are encouraged but not required for the Performance contest.

- Performance competitors are not judged on their costume and will not participate in the Walk-On portion of the Masquerade. You are welcome to compete in Craftsmanship as well based on availability of Friday judging times. Please review the Craftsmanship rules above if you are interested in entering both competitions.

3. Saturday morning performance rehearsal is mandatory unless cleared with the coordinator prior to the start of Tekko.

4. Set pieces may be stored backstage and must fit within a 5ftx5ft footprint. Storage needs must be communicated to Cosplay staff prior to the event.

5. Time limits for performances are 1 minute, 30 seconds for groups of 1-2 participants and 3 minutes for groups of 3 or more participants.

- Stage ninjas/non-performing helpers do not count towards your group size.

- Pre-recorded music and/or dialogue is HIGHLY ENCOURAGED and PREFERRED. We cannot guarantee more than 1 microphone. You will be asked to submit your audio file via email before the convention.

6. You will be required to submit a script or outline of your skit as part of the application for the Performance competition. Applications will be juried to ensure a variety of performances during the masquerade.

Performance

Novice: You are new to performing or have received no major awards*. This category encompasses beginner cosplayers and first-time competitors.

Journeyman: You have some experience on stage or have received no more than 2 major awards. Journeymen are expected to demonstrate intermediate skill in several areas (utilization of stage, audio mixing, audience engagement, etc).

Master: You are an experienced performer or have received 3 or more major awards.

*Major award examples include: ";Best Of…,"; "Best In…," "First Place," "Second Place," and so on.  Judges'; awards, fan favorite awards, etc. do not count towards the participant’s skill level. The Tekko Masquerade division levels only consider awards won in the category of entry: performance-only awards do not impact craftsmanship division, and craftsmanship awards to not impact performance division. If you have questions about your division, please reach out to cosplay@pittjcs.org.

Participants may compete in the highest division they feel represents their skills but may not compete at a level lower than their competition history.

- For example, a Best Journeyman winner may not compete as a Novice, but a first-time entrant with 5 years of theater experience does not have to enter as a Novice. We encourage entrants to challenge themselves!

- Once the participant wins an award at a certain level, they can only compete at that level or higher in future.

- In a group, the skill level of that group is determined by the highest classed skill member of that group. For example, a group of Novices with one Journeyman must all compete as Journeymen.

Walk-Ons are a runway-style showcase of cosplayers featured during the Masquerade. You walk the stage, pose a few times and that’s it! This portion of the event features both craftsmanship competitors and non-judged exhibition participants.

This portion is open to all costumes from any genres, as well as original designs. You do not have to have made your costume to participate.

Registration for walk-ons will be done at-con before the Masquerade.

- Please come to Main Events an hour before the competition starts and staff will direct you. There are limited spots available and they will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

- Craftmanship entrants are already accounted for and do not need to sign up separately.

- Walk-ons do not attend Performance rehearsals. Please have the following information ready to go! This will be provided to the MC, who will read it to the audience as you walk on stage.

IF YOU ARE WALKING ALONE

1. The name you want to be called on stage. This is YOUR name, not your character's name. A cosplay handle, nickname, or first name are all acceptable.

2. The character or design that you are cosplaying.

3. The source material of the character. If you are not cosplaying from a series, you do not need this information.

Examples:

Erica as Princess Jasmine from Disney's Aladdin

Bob Cosplay as an original fox spirit design

John as Shoto Todoroki from My Hero Academia

IF YOU ARE WALKING AS A GROUP

1. List all group members on one card, including name, character, and series as above. Make sure that they are all comfortable with the name you provide being broadcast.

2. The title(s) of the media the character(s) are from. If you are not cosplaying from a series, you do not need this information.

3. You do not all have to be from the same series, but all groups must be under ten people.

Example:

Erica as Kyoko Kirigiri, Bob Cosplay as Makoto Naegi, and John as Monobear from Dangan Ronpa

Dragon Cosplay as Batman and Evan as Goku from Dragonball Z

Shiny Idols as Aquors from Love Live!