If you’ve entered a craftsmanship cosplay contest, you might be nervous about what you’ll be judged on. Some competitions do have rubrics and other key details available to help you better prepare. But if you want a more general answer on what is the criteria for judging cosplay, here they are. These are common things a panel of judges will look for when you’re competing in a craftsmanship competition.
How are Cosplay Competitions Judged
Cosplay competitions that focus on craftmanship are judged by a panel of fellow cosplayers who have typically shown expertise at their craft. They may have competed or worn competitions in the past or be industry professionals to show their proven track record. The group will typically be able to cover understanding and expertise in a variety of techniques such as needlework, armor and more.
Your cosplay is judged through a few key moments by the judges.
- Prejudging – Before the contest begins, usually a contest will dedicate up to 5 minutes of prejudging time for you. This is when you are alone with the judges to talk about your cosplay and they can get a very up close look at all the details.
- Build books –During prejudging you may be expected to turn in a build book. This shows the judges how you made your costume and is a handy tool to help them better judge your costume. Not all contests require them, but they can be really help to include.
- Stage time – Once judges finish prejudging and often a first round of deliberations, you will walk on stage and show off your costume. This is where judges can really observe your stage presence and mobility in the costume.
- Deliberation – Judges will sit down to discuss and judge all the competitors typically during at least two rounds of deliberation. The first is after they finish all of the prejudging and the second is after all the competitors have appeared on stage.
What Do Cosplay Judges Look For
Cosplay judges are going to look for a few things when you begin your prejudging and stage time if you’re participating in a craftmanship competition.
- Techniques used
- Neatness
- Obvious flaws
- Movement capabilities
What is the Criteria for Cosplay Judging
Criteria for cosplay judging ultimately varies between performance, run way and craftmanship contests.
Cosplay Craftsmanship Criteria
- Fabrication & cleanliness – The most important piece of criteria a judge focuses on is going to be quality. Everything from finished seams in needlework, clean foam edges, filled and sanded print lines and more will be looked at. Don’t think you can hide errors and mistakes. During your prejudging, the judges will be up close and even looking inside the costume to verify your cosplay is clean and neat.
- Techniques – Being able to use multiple techniques, including unique ones, can work in your favor. However you need to be well refined for each technique. Using needlework, foam and 3D printing poorly will not place you higher than someone who only used sewing when it’s done well.
- Fitting, mobility and presentation – If your costume doesn’t fit you well, is disproportionate or makes it impossible for you to walk or move, it will definitely count against you a little. Be sure to tailor your cosplay to fit you well by scaling armor and using the right size sewing patterns. Also, always do a costest to ensure you can move around in your costume and make modifications as needed after.
- Materials – Similar to techniques, if you use unique materials to craft your costume it can work in your favor. Keep in mind the cosplay still needs to look clean with the medium being used. Using something unique can help you get into an FX cosplay contest division too.
- Accuracy or adaptation – The very last thing you want to keep in mind is accuracy. While not every judge will know every character, you are submitting a build book with reference images. So, they will be able to tell if your costume isn’t somewhat accurate to those pictures. Now if you did an original design, accuracy isn’t something they can easily assess you on. So instead they will assess the adaptation on how difficult, unique and true to the character it’s based off.
