What to Expect in a Cosplay Contest Judging Room...
Your first time in a judging room can be a frightening experience. You'll be standing in front of panel of 3-10 experts of the craft, dressed in the costume you spent months working on that you were really proud of up until 5 minutes ago, wondering why you didn't redo that imperfect seam, or why you chose that shade of green when the other fabric was such the better option (although 4x the cost). Over and over I hear the biggest regret of those that participate in cosplay contests is that they were so nervous during the judging that they forgot to mention a piece of their costume that they are really proud of. I'm here to give you a little insight into what the judging room is like and a few tips that may get you on the panel's good side. 1) The judges......are there to judge. Shocker I know. However, cosplayers sometimes forget that the judges are not like the other convention-goers who stop you and ask for your picture while complimenting you on your cosplay prowess. They are there to find the strengths and weakness of your costume, and compare it to other costumes. That is what they are there to do. Judge costumes, and figure out which one was best. 2) They will pick apart your costume. Be prepared to be tugged, touched, twirled, tapped, and other "t" verbs. They will lift skirts to inspect seams, stare into your eyes to see if you shelled out the extra $20 for the circle lenses, and a lot of other things that seem odly similar to an airport security check. 3) I have found, that Hall of Cosplay judges are much more quiet and reserved than the Cosplay judging portion of a Masquerade competition. Masquerade judges are a little more friendly, and give their opinion more the HoC judges. This is because there is more than one judging requirment for the masquerade, and masquerade judges have a longer time period to judge all the costumes in the group. Masquerade judges are scheduled to last about 15 minutes, and HoC judging only last between 2-3 minutes. Not a lot of time for chit-chat :/. HoC judges look intimidating and mean, but they are just trying to be impartial because the 2 minutes you are standing in front of them is all they have. So there's 3 things to expect inside the judging room. Now here's some tips to help calm your nerves and make you well prepared for the judging room! 1) Present your references professionaly! You should consider the judging room to be like an interview. Are you going to hand your potential future boss your resume/portfolio that's been folding and wrinkled?? Hopfully the answer is no. Take pictures of your progress, and in a Word document, add a brief description of what the picture is showing. Take your "instruction book" with a few reference images you got from google, and put it in a binder, or one of those plastic essay covers that your 4th grade teacher made you turn all your essays in with. It's a really impressive presentation and shows how much you effort you really put in. It also helps in case you forget to mention an important aspect of your cosplay construction. 2) Have and index card pointing out all of the impressive aspects of injinuity and creativity your cosplay contains. Each year there has been something I forgot to told the judges that I wish I had. Don't be like me....BRING AN INDEX CARD!! 3) Relax :) I know, I know...I sound like your mother right before your SATs or a big dance recitial. However, its the truth. 99.99% of cosplayers do make it out of the judging room alive. The more relaxed you are, the less likely you are to forget something, and the more you can really enjoy the experience as a whole. By: Melanie Braverman
