Cosplay Runway Competition

The Cosplay Runway completion will be held Friday, August 12. In this competition, contestants walk down the runway and show their cosplay to the judges and audience. During their 30 second walk contestants must be in character, walk on strike a pose at least once and walk off. Characters are allowed to dance or perform show elements as long as they stay in the 30 second limit.

You can sign up for the competition by filling in the sign-up template through Google Forms, which you will find linked below the rules.

General Competition Rules

  • You have to be in possession of a valid Abunai! 2022 ticket to sign up for this competition.
  • Any act theme is accepted, with the exception of original characters and unofficial (fan) art. Gijinka and personal interpretations like genderbends are not allowed.
  • You may enter the competition by yourself or in a group consisting of max. three people.
  • A runway walk may last a maximum of 30 seconds.
  • There have to be at least 5 sign-ups for the contest for the competition to take place, or it will be cancelled.
  • Costumes with inappropriate items and/or nudity will be rejected outright.
  • The following items are required to be submitted if you wish to compete:
    – A reference sheet with pictures of the character and your costume in 360° view if possible (we want to see at least the front and back of the costume reference), your name, your cosplay alias, character name, and series, we also require your phone number.
    – A music piece of 30 seconds with a music fade
    – A background picture for your runway walk
  • The costume must be handmade by the wearer. Accessories like shoes, wigs, simple jewelry and belts may be machine-made. Props must be handmade. There has to be at least a 80/20 ratio. Our staff will inform you if your accessories meet the competition requirements. A partner who helped in the creation of your costume is allowed only if said co-creator is in attendance during the pre-judging and in also present during the runway. If you made the costume together it is required that the name of your co-creator is mentioned in your sign up sheet under co-creator.
  • If you have any medical condition which prevents you from meeting certain criteria please contact us with official medical proof and we’ll see what we can do to accommodate that limitation.
  • You have to ask our permission beforehand if you wish for someone to take your pictures during the show.

At the Convention: Rehearsal Rules and Information

  • The Cosplay Runway has a prejudging part, this means you need to take your progress pictures with you (put them on your phone/tablet or print them out and bring them in a folder.) This prejudging is around 5 minutes per contestant and provides you with the chance to talk with the judges and show off your cosplay in detail and up close. After the prejudging you will be free until rehearsal time.
    Failing to appear at the prejudging will result in disqualifaction.
  • Please be aware that if during the Abunai! weekend you find yourself unable compete, the ONLY way to notify us is by visiting the information desk. If you know you’re unable to compete before the convention weekend, please let us know by e-mail before 5th of August!
  • If you have a legitimate reason for missing rehearsal or for being late, you must let us know no later than a week after you receive the rehearsal schedule. If you fail to inform of this on time you will be put on the blacklist, which will prevent you from entering the competition the next year.
  • The rehearsal is not for you to practice your act, but for the technical crew to make sure the sounds and lights are working correctly and to practice technical queues.
  • We do not accept new audio-visual material or other such requests during the rehearsal. Please bring your most recent files to the rehearsal.

At the Convention: Competition Rules and Information

  • By participating in this competition you give us the right to record your performance, which we will publish online. This material is used for promotional purposes, with all rights reserved to us.
  • There will be a short break between the rehearsal and the actual competition.
  • If you want your act to be filmed by anyone else besides our camera crew, you can request permission through e-mail up to a week before the convention.
  • All group members must be present backstage 30 minutes before the show is scheduled to start. You are not allowed to leave before the show starts. If there are delays, you are still required to be present.
  • The order in which the acts will perform is decided by the staff and is not open to discussion.
  • Judging results are final and are not open to discussion.

Dates & Deadlines

  • You need to fill in the sign-up template before the 20th of July.
  • You need to send all the required files by July 25th.
  • You will receive a definite go/no go to enter the competition the 30th of July.
  • We will inform you of the time of the rehearsal by the 5th of August.
  • If you cancel your act after the 5th of August without a legitimate reason, your submission to the Cosplay Runway competition for the next year will be put on the waiting list.

Sign-Up Rules

  • There are a limited amount of spots available. Therefore we advise you to send us your full information as soon as possible. This allows us to more quickly examine your runway and determine which runway will make it through the selection round. We will also be quicker in informing you if you need to fix something in your sign-up template.
  • You need to fill in both your real name and your character’s name in the “Character(s) (required)” field in the template linked below.
  • After you sign up we will send you a link to your personal folder on our drive. You must completely fill in the folder to compete. Folders that do not follow these rules will be rejected.
  • Reference pictures must be official art. Using fan art, even if made by popular artists, as reference pictures is not allowed.
  • We ask for as much of a completed costume progress as you are able to give us, we understand that you might not have the costume complete yet by the time we need the files. This is not a problem as long as we can see that you are working on it.
  • The judges will see your reference board during pre-judging so make sure you have a collage of your reference.
  • We will notify you if your sign-up template has been received.
  • Only visitors with a valid Abunai! ticket may enter this competition.

Audio-visual Material Rules

  • The following combinations of audio-visual material are possible:
    Audio only.
    A still (non-moving) image befitting your character.
  • Read the rules below to prevent non- working audio-visual material.

Audio File Rules

  • Audio is mandatory.
  • For audio we only accept MP3-files. We don’t accept any other type of audio file type.
  • Compressed bitrate for MP3 should be at least 128 kb/s, fixed, or 192 kb/s VBR.
  • If you want to have audio start at X seconds you have to edit the file yourself. We start audio from the start of the file, so make sure the file is silent until the moment you wish to use the audio in your act.
  • You have until two weeks before the convention to notify us of issues. Notifying us of updates and fixes counts for this as well.

Image File Rules

  • You can choose any image as long as they fit with your performance.
  • You can only use one image.
  • The following file formats are accepted: JPG, JPEG, PNG. We don’t accept any other type of image file type.
  • The resolution of the image must be at least 640×480. Obviously enlarged, blurry images will not be accepted.

Sign-up Sheet

Signing up for the Abunai! 2022 Cosplay Runway Competition is is no longer possible.

    (These rules are subject to change)