JUDGING CRITERIA

Judging at the WCS USA Finals at Anime Expo is carried out in two parts:

  • On Stage judging – occurring at the AX Masquerade and WCS USA Finals at Anime Expo. Performance order will be randomly selected before the Finals event.
  • Craftsmanship judging – occurring on days 1 and 2 of Anime Expo before the AX Masquerade and WCS USA Finals. Times will be requested and assigned in advance for this judging. You will have 8 minutes timed to give a presentation on your costumes to our panel of judges. Please be prepared to present not only your costumes but a progress book detailing the process of creating your costumes and any small hand props you wish to bring to judging. Please note that stage sets and over sized props that need to be set on stage do not qualify as hand props.
  • There is a total possible score of 100 points plus an additional 5 bonus points for Stage Impact.

Your team must be the primary creator of your costumes. If we find that a team is misrepresenting their craftsmanship they will face disqualification or possibly be barred from competition at Anime Expo and WCS USA in the future.

 

[1]

On stage Judging is out of 50 points.

20 points for Overall Performance – Art of performance, inventiveness, entertainment value, and smoothness of act.

20 points for Costume Stage Expression – The faithfulness in movement, look and flow of costume to the original character on stage, general visual impact of the cosplayers from stage.

10 points for Admiration and Respect – How well the “intensity” or “originality” of the performance conveys the cosplayers “admiration and respect” for the original characters and story.

[2]

Craftsmanship Judging is out of 50 points.

20 points for Accuracy – How well the direct comparison of the costume is to the original artwork

20 points for Quality – How well the costumes have been put together, the fit, neatness of painting, sewing, etc.

10 points for Technique – A costume that used a wide variety of difficult skills will be award higher marks in this category than a costume that use few simple techniques. It is more about the quality of the technique than the quantity.

[3]

A bonus of up to 5 Points for Stage Impact may be awarded to teams who have been deemed to bring exemplary stage presence and ingenuity to the event.

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Judging at the WCS Championship in Japan is carried out in two parts:

– On Stage judging
– Craftsmanship judging

[1]

Each on-stage judge of the cosplay championship can award 10 points for Performance, 5 points for Costume Stage Expression, and 5 points for Character Fidelity, for a maximum total of 20 points.

(a) Performance (10 points): Art of performance, inventiveness, entertainment value, and smoothness of act.

(b) Costume Stage Expression (5 points): Faithfulness in movement, look and flow of costume to the original character, general visual impact of the costume on stage. The cosplayers may make some changes to the costumes for better performance (i.e. to add some parts for gimmick, etc.), as far as the change does not detract from the essential character or work. In this case the cosplayers must provide an oral and/or written explanation about the reasoning behind deviating from the original work to the judges during craftsmanship judging.

(c) Admiration and Respect (5 points): Admiration and respect in the performance to original characters and story. How well the performance shows admiration and respect toward the original work (stories and characters etc.) How well the “intensity” of the performance conveys the cosplayers “admiration and respect” for the work to a third party (in this case the judges).

* If a team breaks the time limit rule (B10) for stage preparation, a penalty on the team’s point score will be imposed on the performance score.

* 10% total point deduction for exceeding the time limit by up to 10 seconds. 25% total point deduction for exceeding the time limit for more than 10 seconds.

[2]

Craftsmanship judging is carried out by the national organizers before the championship is held and added to the score from the on-stage judging.

Each national organizer can give up to 100 points. An average score is calculated which is then multiplied by the number of championship judges and then divided by 10 to give the final craftsmanship score.

* Costumes to be worn on stage and hand held props will be subject to craftsmanship judging.

* Background screens or larger props on stage are not subject to judging

* A national organizer of a given country will not take part in judging said country’s team.

Craftsmanship (100 points):

The mark out of 100 given by the craftsmanship judges will be subdivided into the following subcategory:

(a) 40 points for accuracy of the costume,
(b) 40 points for the quality of the costume,
(c) 20 points for technique.
Accuracy is marked as a direct comparison of the costume with the original artwork. A costume that is identical to the original artwork should receive 40/40, and a costume that looks nothing like the original artwork will therefore receive 0/40. In addition, if there is an unknown part of the original work (i.e. inability to determine the color of a costume in a black and white manga) as long as the character’s likeness and the costume design are followed then the selection of the color and the detailed design will be left to the discretion of the cosplayer and any differences from the costume original images submitted shall not affect scoring.

Quality is marked based on several factors, including how well the costume is put together, how well it fits the contestant, how neat painting, sewing, etc. has been done.

Technique is marked as a way to reward skills. A costume that used a wide variety of difficult skills will be award high marks in this category than a costume that use few simple techniques. It is more about the quality of the technique than the quantity.

* The mind-set put forth in the Craftsmanship Judging Guide is to be used as the benchmark during judging.

* If a team is found to break costume rules outlined in this document, the craftsmanship judges are able to penalize the craftsmanship score of that team. Penalties may vary depending on rules broken.

[3]

In case of a tie in the final score, on-stage judging score will determine the order.

* in case of a tie after the on-Stage judging score is taken into account, the championship judges will choose a winner by simple vote of majority between the two teams in question.

Prohibited Content Material

* Video game material considered unsuitable for sale to minors (18 years old or younger) by the Ethics Organization of Computer Software or Contents Soft Association.

* Video material considered unsuitable for sale to minors (18 years old or younger) by the Nihon Ethics of Video Association or Visual Software Contents Industry Coop.

* Material considered unsuitable for sale to minors (18 years old or younger) by the Publishing Ethics Association (出版倫理協議会) or the publishers themselves.

* Other material considered inappropriate by the WCS executive committee or WCS USA Staff (essentially material that is considered to contain adult related material)

Explicitly Prohibited

* Video game material considered unsuitable for sale to minors (18 years or younger) by the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (NPO).

If there are any questions regarding interpretation of the rules or decisions on specific cases please contact the WCS USA staff and wcsusa@anime-expo.org .