Palouse AnimeFest 1st Cosplay Contest

Cosplays can bring their favorite characters to life in our first Cosplay Contest! The contest is judged upon overall look of the costume, accuracy of the character, difficulty of the costume for the contestant’s skill level, and stage presence. Bring your friends to watch this great show full of the finest cosplay our wonderful attendees have to offer!

Please read the rules and guidelines below, then submit an application at the bottom of this page.

Rules and Conduct

  1. Participants must follow the Attendee Code of Conduct. It is the sole discretion of Palouse AnimeFest and the Events Coordinator to decide whether a costume is deemed acceptable. Please see our Policies tab for more information.

  2. Participants must be volunteers or attendees of Palouse AnimeFest.

  3. All props must be Peace Bonded. The Event Coordinator reserves the right to veto the use of any prop if deemed unsafe.

  4. Palouse AnimeFest is a family friendly event. Please refer to the Policies tab for our Attendee Code of Conduct regarding costume and attire policy.

  5. Please indicate on your application if you need assistance getting on and off the stage. We are here to help!

  6. Reference photos of your character are required for judging and to show on the projectors during your walk. Please submit high quality images so the judges can compare your costume to the image of your character.

Divisions

Youth Division

This division is intended for participants who are twelve (12) or younger on the day of the convention.

  1. Parents are used as “props” and will not be considered for judging in this category. Only the individual 12 or under will be judged.

  2. This category is judged under the same criteria as the Novice category.

Original Design Division

This division is intended for original characters or original designs of characters, such as gender bends, fan interpretations of characters, or fanart.

  1. Designs and costumes must be the sole creation of the participant to enter this division. If your costume is based off of artwork that was not designed by you, you should enter your costume in the appropriate Novice, Journeyman, or Master categories, with proper credits to the artist.

Novice Division

This division is for those who have made 10% to 50% of their costume and are newer to the world of cosplay and sewing.

  1. This percentage does not include shoes, undergarments, stockings, and wigs.

  2. Wigs are not expected to be modified.

  3. Notice Division is intended for people with little cosplay experience and beginning level of sewing/crafting techniques.

Journeyman Division

This division is for those who have made 50% to 90% of their costume themselves and are cosplayers with greater experience in craftmanship and/or sewing.

  1. This percentage does not include shoes, undergarments, stockings, and wig.

  2. Wigs are expected to be styled but do not need to be heavily modified.

  3. This division is intended for people with a decent amount of cosplay and crafting expnce.

  4. All props should have visible portions of the prop constructed by the cosplayer.

  5. Contestants should have a solid foundation in crafting and begin to showcase higher levels of craftmanship (advanced seams, more complicated garment construction, different techniques to portray patterns/textiles, etc.)

Master Division

This division is for those who have made 90% to 100% of their costumes and are seasoned cosplayers with lots of experience in craftsmanship and/or sewing.

  1. This percentage does not include shoes, undergarments, and stockings, but alterations to those items will be taken into consideration when judging, but do not count against you.

  2. Styling/Alterations to wigs are required.

  3. Makeup accuracy and application will be taken into account. If your character canonically does not wear makeup it will not be counted against you, but most costumes will benefit from at least a small amount of stage makeup.

  4. All props should be handmade by you.

  5. Anyone who has won two or more awards in other cosplay contests equivalent to the Journeyman level should enter into the Master division.

Applications for our 2025 cosplay contest will open soon.