AFA Regional Cosplay Championship Rulebook ver 1.0 (updated on 27 Mar 2013)
1.0 Table of Contents GENERAL 1.1 Introduction.... 1.2 Objectives........ 1.3 Publishing Competition Information.. 1.4 Roles........ 1.4.1 Competition Organiser...... 1.4.2 Competition Advisor...... 1.4.3 Judge........ 1.4.4 Contestant...... 1.4.5 Helper....... 1.4.6 Audience...... 1.5 Contestants Entitlement.. 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 2.0 REGISTRATION 2.1 Eligibility to Participate.. 2.2 Preliminaries/Semi-finals registration.... 2.3 Finals Registration...... 2.4 Contestant Responsibility....... 2.5 Penalty.......... 4 4 4 5 6 3.0 PRE-COMPETITION 3.1 Order of performance. 3.2 Pre-competition Briefing...... 3.3 Transportation. 3.4 Pre-judging..... 6 7 7 7 4.0 COMPETITION MECHANICS 4.1 Setting...... 4.2 Finals.... 4.2.1 Participation rules.......... 4.2.2 Competition rules....... 4.3 Preliminaries/ Semi-finals... 4.3.1 Participation rules......... 4.3.2 Competition rules....... 7 8 8 8 9 9 10 5.0 JUDGING 5.1 Judging Criteria 10 5.2 Judging Criteria Sheet.. 5.3 Panel of Judges........ 11 11 1.O GENERAL Page 1 of 11
1.1 Introduction The purpose of this document is to layout the standards to run AFA Regional Cosplay Championship ( ARCC ) by defining appropriate rules, responsibilities, and procedures to be followed in all cosplay competitions under Anime Festival Asia ( AFA ). Contestants, competition officials & organisers should cooperate to achieve their common goal of running a proper cosplay competition. Contestants and officials are responsible for following the most current version of the ARCC rules and any other applicable regulatory documents. AFA reserves the right to alter these rules, as well as the right to interpret, modify, clarify, or otherwise issue official changes to these rules without prior notice. As a common understanding, participants will be used to describe cosplayers who have registered for the tournament but not yet selected for the finals; contestants will refer to participants who have been selected to put up a performance in the finals. 1.2 Objectives This guidebook aim to achieve the following objectives: 1) To grow standardise rules and judging criteria for ARCC 2) To ensure transparency of competition rules and regulations, judging guidelines to the public 3) To aid event organisers in running ARCC preliminaries & semi-finals 1.3 Publishing Competition Information AFA reserves the right to publish cosplay competition information at any time. Competition information includes, but is not limited to, the photos of contestants on the stage, video of contestant performance. AFA reserves the right to publish penalty and suspension information. 1.4 Roles The following roles are devised for ARCC purpose: 1) Competition Organiser 2) Competition Advisor 3) Judge 4) Contestant 5) Helper 6) Audience Officials are personnel numbered 1) to 3) above who will ensure the rules are adhere and enforced before and during the competition. Non-officials are personnel numbered 4) to 6) above who will ensure the rules are adhere but no Page 2 of 11
rights to enforce them before and during the tournament. Non-official has the right to appeal against penalties imposed on contestants. 1.4.1 Competition Organiser Competition organiser may be the event owner or a sub-contractor of the event owner running the competition and he/she is responsible for the following: Providing a location for the competition that meets the ARCC s expected needs. Advertising the competition in advance of the competition date. Staffing the competition with appropriate competition officials. Providing all materials necessary to operate the competition. Reporting the competition results of semi-finals to AFA 1.4.2 Competition Advisor Competition advisor is appointed by the competition organiser to advice on matters relating to the competition and he/she is responsible for the following: Ensure that the competition is organised with accordance to the rules in this guidebook Advice on the modification of competition running procedures to go along with the local culture Coordinate with the ARCC finals advisor on improving quality of competitions 1.4.3 Judge Judge includes cosplayer guests and representative from sponsors who will be assessing the contestants for the competition. He/she is responsible for the following: Assessing contestants with accordance to the Judging Criteria Sheet Ensure contestants are competing on equal conditions (e.g. equal time allocated e.t.c.) during the competition Provide feedback to contestants on stage after their performance 1.4.4 Contestant Contestant is the personnel who take part in the tournament and is subjected to tournament rules and regulations. Responsibilities of contestants are listed in section 2.4 in this document. 1.4.5 Helper Helper is the personnel who aids the contestant(s) in preparation for the tournament and is subjected to specific clauses in the rules and regulations of the tournament where it applies. Helper assigned by AFA has the rights to refuse aid to contestants in matters not relating to the competition or nonadministrative matters relating to the competition. Helper(s) engaged by contestants is/are the responsibility of contestants and has to be declared to Page 3 of 11
AFA prior to the competition. The responsibility of the AFA assigned helper is as follows: Aid contestants in administrative matters relating to the competition Aid contestants in queries relating to their accommodation Aid contestants in navigating to the competition area Provide a point of contact between AFA and the contestants during the finals period Ensure that contestants adhere to the time of the program schedule 1.4.6 Audience Audience is the personnel who watches the tournament and anyone who is not directly involved in the staging the tournament. 1.5 Contestants Entitlement The following is provided to ARCC finalists: Flight tickets or transportation fee to the country holding the finals for contestants who do not reside in the same state or country. These are given in the form of sponsorship prize for ARCC semi-finals. Hotel or resort accommodation. These are given in the form of sponsorship prize for ARCC semi-finals. One helper is assigned to each country to aid the contestants in administrative matters related to the competition. 2.0 REGISTRATION 2.1 Eligibility to Participate All people are eligible to participate in ARCC except for the following: Individuals currently suspended by ARCC/AFA Individuals currently suspended or banned by organisers of ARCC preliminaries & semi-finals Individuals banned from the premises by the venue management Individuals prohibited by local laws Member of the organising committee of ARCC/AFA 2.2 Preliminaries/Semi-finals registration Registration procedures for preliminaries / semi-finals will be up to the discretion of the regional centres and partners. 2.3 Finals Registration Organiser of ARCC semi-finals may choose to register for the finalists. In the Page 4 of 11
case whereby finalists/participants are registering for themselves, they will be required to submit an online registration form to ARCC at www.animefestival.asia/xxx with the following details: A. Team particulars 1) Team name 2) Representing country 3) Cosplay series name 4) Cosplay series genre (anime, manga, game, novel e.t.c.) B. Personal Particulars 1) Full name as in passport 2) Gender 3) Date of birth 4) Nationality 5) Passport number 6) Passport expiry date 7) Passport issue date 8) Contact e-mail 9) Contact number in Singapore C. Cosplayer particulars 1) Name (can be nickname) to be publicised in Microsite 2) Name of the character 3) A picture of the character who the individual member is cosplaying in the finals including a write up of the personality and traits of the character including any links to more information about the character 4) 3 to 5 Photos of previous cosplay in high resolution for official publicity. Photos are preferably unedited by any software. *Excessive digitally enhanced/ediited photos will result in a penalty being imposed in the pre-selection round. 5) Photo of finalist in normal clothing *Applicable to participants whose country did not organise ARCC semi-finals and has to go through ARCC finals pre-selection. Finalists will be required to fill up a performance requirement form, 3 weeks prior to the tournament, containing the following: 1) Number of people involved in making the costume(s) 2) Man hours spent to complete the costume(s) 3) Props and/or sets to be brought on stage 4) Effects (dry ice) to be used on stage 5) Stage lighting requirements 6) Requirement for microphone 7) Other requirements Page 5 of 11
2.4 Contestant Responsibility 1) All information furnished by the contestant to the organiser should be truthful to the best of knowledge of the contestant 2) Contestant is responsible for condition of his/her costume at all times 3) Contestant should feedback on any difficulties faced to the organiser prior to the tournament 4) Contestant backing out of the tournament needs to give official notice to the organiser at least 1 month prior to the tournament 5) Contestant is responsible for the condition of any music or video to be played during his/her performance 6) Contestant should remain contactable during any reasonable time before the tournament. In the case whereby contestant is unable to be contacted for a period of time, this period of time has to be make known to the organiser 2.5 Penalty A contestant will be subjected to penalty by AFA and/or by the organiser if the following offenses have been committed: Sabotage of other contestants performance or anything property or matters that will directly affect the performance Suspension Score Penalty Using of vulgarity on audience, judges, organising committee, other contestants Backing out of competition less than 1 month prior to tournament with no valid reason(s) Provision of false registration information to organiser Subjected to review Intentional violation of competition rules, cheating, dishonesty Subjected to review Page 6 of 11
Bribery of competition officials, judges, organisers Wagering Unsporting conduct 3.0 PRE-COMPETITION 3.1 Order of Performance The default order of performance on stage shall be determine by the contestants drawing lots. In the cases whereby contestants are unable to appear on stage as according to the default order, contestants have to inform the organiser to change the slot for appearance subjected to the timing in the program schedule. 3.2 Pre-competition Briefing A briefing will be conducted to contestants on the day of the rehearsal /technical run to inform them of the program schedule and a run through of the competition mechanics. A second briefing will be conducted on the day of the competition to inform contestants of the updates to the program schedule and other competition related matters. 3.3 Transportation Transportation is provided from the accommodation location to the event site and back. Contestants are to ensure that the transport boarding time is strict adhered. 3.4 Pre-judging Contestants are to present themselves in costume to judges in backstage before their performance for pre-judging on Section 2 in the Judging Criteria Sheet. Contestants are to answer all questions relating to the competition posed by the judges truthfully to the best of their knowledge. The timing of the pre-judging will be informed during the second briefing. Pre-judging timing may be changed depending on the availability of the judge(s). 4.0 COMPETITION FORMAT Page 7 of 11
4.1 Setting The following is the general setting of the competition: Competition takes place in an enclosed hall with a stage suitable for theatrical play production. The entrances and exits are at the sides of the stage, hidden by curtains to the audience. Dynamic stage lights available to simulate special effects. A large video panel acts as the backdrop of the stage where contestants can choose to use video to aid in their performance. Video is provided by the contestants and will not be scored. Stage props & sets are allowed to aid contestants in their performance. Stage props & sets and their transportation are provided by the contestants and will not be scored. Judges will query or provide feedback to contestants on stage after their performance 4.2 Finals 4.2.1 Participation rules 1) Restricted to *Japanese intellectual property including, but not limited to, anime, comics, game, novel *Any game, comic, animation e.t.c. produced in Japanese language including adaptions e.g. Japanese made anime of Ironman 2) Characters in the group must be from the same intellectual property 3) Participants are to provide the title of the intellectual property and name of character including a picture which they are cosplaying 4) Participants are to provide no more than 3 photos of their previous cosplay including the proper credit to photographers for publicity purpose 5) Each participation entry must have a team/performance name 6) Competition is opened to Asia 7) Each country can send only one representative group the finals Page 8 of 11
8) Each group is restricted to 2 cosplayers 9) Participants under the age of 18 will require consent from a parent or guardian to enter the tournament 10) AFA has the right to use images, video clips of participant s cosplay and performances prior and after the tournament. 4.2.2 Competition rules 11) Each group s performance on stage is limited to 3 minutes not including preparation and setting up time for set(s) 12) Preparation and setting up of set(s) is limited to 1 minute 13) Costumes can be self-made, commissioned, purchased. Commissioned, purchased costumes will have to bear a handicap (refer to judging guidelines) 14) Contestants are to provide music/video clips to be played in the background during their performances. The following are allowed but must be credited to the intellectual property rights owner: i) Original animation extracted from the title ii) Voice(s) of original voice actor(s) iii) Song(s) with voices of original singer(s) iv) Full music or portion of music from the title 15) The use of pyrotechnics is strictly prohibited on stage 16) Contestants may bring their own sets/stage props to be used in the performance. Each competing category is limited to maximum 5 pieces of set and they have to be declared to the organiser upon confirmation of contestants as finalists prior to the tournament 17) Contestants are to engage their own helper(s), limited to 2 people (not including the helper assigned by AFA to aid in the finals) to aid them in preparation, setting up for their performance 18) Contestants are to appear for a rehearsal/technical run for the competition on a day decided by the organiser 4.3 Preliminaries/Semi-finals 4.3.1 Participation rules Page 9 of 11
1) Restricted to *Japanese intellectual property including, but not limited to, anime, comics, game, novel *Any game, comic, animation e.t.c. produced in Japanese language including adaptions e.g. Japanese made anime of Ironman 2) Characters in the group must be from the same intellectual property 3) Participants are to provide the title of the intellectual property and name and picture of the character which they are cosplaying 4) Each participation entry must have a team/performance name 5) Competition is opened to the county where the semi-finals are organised 6) Competition is opened to the state where the **preliminary rounds are organised **Countries that are not organising preliminary competitions under ARCC ruling will just need to organise one semi-final round. 7) Each group is restricted to 2 cosplayers 8) Participants under the legal age will require consent from a parent or guardian to enter the tournament 9) AFA has the right to use images, video clips of participant s cosplay and performances prior and after the tournament. 4.3.2 Competition rules 10) Each group s performance on stage is limited to 3 minutes not including preparation and setting up time for set(s) 11) Preparation and setting up of set(s) is limited to 1 minute 12) Costumes can be self-made, commissioned, purchased. Commissioned, purchased costumes will have to bear a handicap (refer to judging guidelines) 13) Contestants are to provide music/video clips to be played in the background during their performances. The following are allowed but must be credited to the intellectual property rights owner: i) Original animation extracted from the title ii) Voice(s) of original voice actor(s) iii) Song(s) with voices of original singer(s) Page 10 of 11
iv) Full music or portion of music from the title 14) The use of pyrotechnics is strictly prohibited on stage 15) Contestants may bring their own sets/stage props to be used in the performance. Each competing category is limited to maximum 5 pieces of set and they have to be declared to the organiser upon confirmation of contestants as finalists prior to the tournament 16) Contestants are to engage their own helper(s), limited to 2 people, to aid them in preparation, setting up for their performance. 5.0 JUDGING 5.1 Judging criteria This set of judging criteria is applicable to all competitions organised under ARCC ruling: 1) Costume accuracy 15% Reference pictures provided by the finalists will be used to compare with the costume in the back stage before the performances. 2) In character 20% Character write-up other media provided by the finalists will be used to compare with the finalist s character acting. 3) Performance 30% The finalist will be judged on the stage directions, movement, and entertainment value of the performance piece. Entertainment value will take up 20% of the performance score. Technical directions will take up 10% of performance score. 4) Costume workmanship 25% The quality of the costume will be reviewed in backstage before the performance. i) For commissioned costume(s), the participating group will have to bear a 15% handicap on the scoring ii) For purchased costume(s), the participating group will have to bear a 20% handicap on the scoring 5) Choice of character 10% 5% of the score will be on whether the character is suitable for the contestant and the other 5% will be effort measured in terms of man days needed to complete the costume. Page 11 of 11
5.2 Judging Criteria Sheet Judging of the competition is to be used in conjunction with the judging criteria sheet in Annex A 5.3 Panel of Judges The following are the requirements for judging panel for the various tournaments: Competition Cosplayer Judge Non-cosplayer judge Minimum Total ARCC Finals 3 or more 2 or less 5 Semi Final 2 or more 2 or less 3 Preliminary 1 or more 2 or less 2 END OF DOCUMENT Page 12 of 11