Applications for 2023 have closed
Sign ups for both the Craftsmanship and Performance divisions have closed! Thank you to everyone for the support for our contest – we received a record number of masquerade sign ups this year, and are very excited to see everyone! Confirmation emails for both divisions have been sent out. If you are still waiting for your confirmation email, please contact [email protected]
General Information
The Masquerade is an event for cosplayers to show off their craftsmanship and Performances!
Walk On: Craftsmanship, or exhibition, you will walk across the stage and do a few poses for the audience, allow the audience to snap some photos, and then walk off. It’s a cosplay runway!
Performance (skits): Your choice of some sort of performance for the audience, whether you are acting or doing a choreographed dance. Audio must be submitted at time of judging. You will be limited to 4:00 of audio at the maximum.
Entering the Competition
Craftsmanship Sign Ups: Have Closed *limited same day signups will be available at the con day of the show*
Performance Sign Ups: Have Closed
Sign ups will be live from June 11th to July 7th, or until all of our craftsmanship spots are filled. If you miss the online sign-ups period, don’t fret! We will have some at-con sign ups available!
Confirmation emails will begin to be sent out on June 21st if you do not get a confirmation email by June 21st, or if you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please email [email protected]! I will be happy to answer your questions!
Craftsmanship Competition Divisions
Note: The Cosplay Staff have the right to place a competitor in an appropriate division
at their discretion.
In order to compete at Matsuricon, your costumes must meet the following requirements:
● Any costumes are allowed to enter, as long as there is OFFICIAL reference art of the character. No fanart costumes will be permitted. All costumes must be derived from the original source material/artist/creator. If there is official art of characters from a podcast provided by the creators of said podcast, they WILL be permitted.
● No Original characters, no Genderbends (unless there is official art from the creator(s) as such), no ginjikas, etc. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to email and ask.
● All costumes must have been at least 75% made from scratch by the costume creator. (Shoes and wigs do not count towards the overall costume, but you will impress the judges if you make these things!)
● Commissioned costumes cannot be entered in the competition divisions. (You may enter in the Exhibition division instead).
● If you are competing as a group, you must compete in the same division. If you and your partner are competing together and are in different divisions, you both will be required to compete at the higher division level.
Ex. You are in the masters division, but your partner is Journeyman then, both of you will be required to enter at the masters level. If you feel uncomfortable with this, we recommend you enter and be judged separately, but you can both walk and pose on stage together during the masquerade.
Exhibition: Costumes for the Exhibition division include commissioned, store bought (such as eBay), rented, and/or borrowed costumes. You will not be receiving any awards. Nor will your costume be judged for craftsmanship. We have a limited number of TEN slots for exhibition.
Juniors: Must be 12 and Under to compete. You can have help from friends and family to help you make the costume!
Closet Cosplay: A brand new division started in 2015 where people may enter their closet cosplays! This is anything from modified clothes or partially made items! (As long as it is an official character, not an Original or otherwise!) You MUST have made or heavily modified 50% of your costume.
Novice: Intended for those who are still in the beginning stages of learning to make your own cosplay. You cannot compete in this division with more than 1 Major award previously won, or 3 minor awards. (i.e. Honorable Mentions, Judges Awards, etc.)
Journeyman: Those with a solid comprehension of how to put together a costume and show some advanced skills and knowledge. You cannot compete in this division if you have won more than 2 Major awards or 4 minor awards, or have comparable experience.
Masters: Master of the cosplay arts; someone who knows the ropes. Must have won 3 or more major awards, or has comparable experience.
Judging Process
● Bring references! A reference is a picture of the character that you are cosplaying. Without a reference, we cannot accurately judge your costume for craftsmanship. It would be beneficial to your score to bring as much reference as possible, preferably as a color printout, but bringing figures, tablets, manga, books, laptops, etc., will also be accepted. Phone reference images will result in a deduction of points.
● You will have five minutes! So be prepared to talk about your costume. Come in knowing what you want to say. Tell the judges everything about how you made your costume. Things you should talk about include fabric, construction methods, or any special methods you used to get around a problem in designing the costume. The judges will be there to help guide you in your costume judging.
● The judges will look at your costume up close! Judges will be inspecting the costume craftsmanship up close, checking seams and details, so if you feel uncomfortable at any moment, please let the judges know!
Skits
● This year we will be accepting a total of 12 skits. There will be 4 skits from each division (4 from novice, 4 from journeymen, and 4 from masters). These will be accepted based on first come, first serve by division.
● Costumes and skits must be PG-13. If it’s appropriate for a PG-13 movie, it’s appropriate for the competition. However, if it is something you would not say in front of your grandmother, don’t put it in your skit. If you are unsure whether your skit is appropriate, please feel free to email me.
● Skits must be no longer than 4 minutes in length. Skits that run on longer than 4 minutes (within reason) will be disqualified from any awards. For this reason, we encourage you to pre-record your skits unless it absolutely must be performed live (such as playing an instrument).
● Objects and activities not permitted on stage: No live steel and firearms. No incendiary devices (such as sparklers, firecrackers or smoke bombs). No throwing of objects will be permitted. No glitter.
● Reckless Behavior resulting in falling off stage, or breaking/damaging equipment (or nearly doing so) will result in disqualification. If you damage equipment, we will hold you responsible for the cost to fix or replace it.
● What goes on stage with you MUST come off stage as you leave.
Meet Our 2023 Judges
OwlEerie, aka Libby around the office, is an Ohio native cosplayer who has been crafting and competing since 2008. Around work as a licensed engineer, she’s translated her detail-focused work ethic into myriad costumes and original designs. She loves detail work, exact tailoring, and swishy hems. Iron those pleats and divulge your cleverest construction secrets!
Akakioga is an internationally recognized cosplayer with a passion for creating costumes from all different forms of media. With a love of working with her hands, she has become a self taught powerhouse that truly enjoys everything craftsmanship! Whether it be sewing, armor making, 3D printing, or even wig styling, she’s ready to take on any project whether it be big or small!
She uses her platforms to also promote diversity in cosplay, recognizing the importance of promoting that no matter what walk of life you may come from, cosplay is for everyone no matter what!
Leviathanblaze (aka Chey) is the recipient of master-level awards in both the US and Canada. Chey has been a professional seamstress and cosplayer for nearly a decade and spends most of their time designing costumes for musical theatre.
NekoYasha is what we call an OG cosplayer, starting way back in 2003. They started doing performance skits around 2009 with her friends under the group name of Godly Team Cosplay, where they won many accolades at various Midwest conventions, until retiring from performance skits in 2017. Where now she works behind the scenes at conventions. You can find her behind a sewing machine working with spandex fabric in unconventional ways, we aren’t sure what that means but it is slightly terrifying.
Tothestarsandback Cosplay (Stella) has been cosplaying since 2010, with her first costumes being Tifa Lockhart and Sakura Haruno. She discovered the stage with skits the year after and continued to pursue them ever since. She has taken part in over 48 skits total, taking awards in 23.
In more recent years, she has started to compete in craftsmanship, in addition to performance/skit judging and assisting cosplay departments for several local conventions. Her more recent achievements include Best Journeyman Craftsmanship at Colossalcon this year with Caitlyn from Arcane and Best Masters Skit at Ohayocon this year.
Photo Credit KaramelPhotography
Eric is cosplayer and performer who works as a specialist in the manufacturing field with a long history of performing arts. Across 25 years, he’s been involved in many performance groups such as dance, show choir, historical reenactment, medieval fairs, improv acting, and performing at Severance Hall. Matsuricon (his favorite con!) was the first con he performed at with his team and has returned this year as a performance judge. Eric graduated from The University of Akron with a degree in Psychology and a Technical degree in Microelectromechanical systems from Lorain Community College. His favorite series include Gurren Lagann, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.