Masquerade
The Overview
Begun in 2009, the Yume Cosplay Prize is a unique North American cosplay competition with its finals set in the fashion capital of the world – New York City. The Yume Cosplay Prize is a fair, transparent competition between cosplay teams of two in the categories of craftsmanship and stage performance, with the winning team taking home a prize that is nothing short of a dream come true – a trip to Tokyo, Japan. And as “yume” is the Japanese word for dream, we felt it was only fitting to name this competition the “Yume Cosplay Prize”.
The Prize
The Yume Cosplay Prize awarded to our final winners is a week-long trip to Tokyo, Japan. This trip consists of Two economy-class tickets to and from Japan, A five-night-stay in a double room in a Tokyo hotel, Two VIP tickets to the Tokyo Anime Fair's Public Days, and $1,000 to spend while in Japan. Various additional prizes – including collections of anime and manga – are awarded to runners up. The next Tokyo International Anime Fair takes place in March 2011. Please note that while cosplay is a regular occurrence at US conventions, cosplay is a rarity at Japanese events and the Tokyo Anime Fair requires its attendees -- including the Yume Cosplay Prize winners -- to attend in regular dress, not cosplay.
The Finals
The finals for the 2010 Yume Cosplay Prize will take place on October 9, 2010 inside the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. The finals will take place as part of the New York Anime Festival and New York Comic Con inside the IGN Theater, a 3,000 seat theater that has previously featured Japanese talents T.M.Revolution, Takashi Miike, and Sho Sakurai as well as American names including Joss Whedon, Guillermo Del Toro, and Frank Miller. The finals will be open to approximately 30 teams made up of regional winners as well as juried applications sent in directly to the New York Anime Festival.
The Regionals
While we have already drawn competitors from as faraway as Florida and California, the Yume Cosplay Prize’s organizers wish to officially reach out to a select number of respected, well-run anime events to act as Yume Cosplay Prize Regional Competitions, with the winners of each Regional participating in the Finals in NYC.
Confirmed Regionals For The 2010 Finals
Anime USA – November 20-22, 2009 – Hyatt Regency Crystal City – Arlington, Virginia
Winners Tiffany Tezna and Cassandra May
Anime Matsuri – April 2-4, 2010 – The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention Center – The Woodlands, TX
Confirmed Regionals For The 2009 Finals
MetroCon – June 19–21, 2009 – Tampa Convention Center – Tampa, Florida
Winners Laura Hale and Hannah McCue
Regional Rules
Yume Cosplay Prize Regionals are not asked to alter the way their judge their Masquerades. Instead, the Yume Cosplay Prize simply asks that the highest scoring team that meets the following rules be crowned as a Yume Cosplay Prize Regional winner… Costumes MUST be made by the wearer or a member of their group, Contestants MUST enter as teams of two, Contestants MUST be 18 or older as of October 9, 2010, Contestants MUST be citizens or legal residents of the US or Canada, Contestants MUST have valid Passports, Contestants MUST be available to travel to NYC from Oct. 8-10, 2010, and Contestants MUST be available to travel to Japan in March 2011. In the New York City Finals, all cosplay teams are judged in the following categories – Craftsmanship (10 points), Stage Performance (10 points), Professionalism (5 points).
For Further Information
Should you wish to take part and become a partner event, please contact NY Anime Festival & NY Comic Con Director of Industry Development Peter Tatara at ptatara@reedexpo.com.