Youmacon 2026
Youmacon welcomes everyone to dress up when you visit the Con! Whether you come as your favorite Japanese or Western anime, gaming, comic book, or music character, or simply want to wear your favorite Halloween costume, you’re invited to express yourself! Costumes are not required, and if you are interested in competing in one of our contests, the full rules are below!
NOTICE: THERE WILL BE NO INTERNATIONAL COSPLAY LEAGUE PRELIMINARY IN 2026!!!
The Youmacon Cosplay Department is sad to announce that we will not be holding ICL Team USA selections this year. There was an issue with the dates for the 2026 Japan Weekend event and the 2026 world championship has been postponed to 2027. Team USA winners selected at Youmacon 2025 will compete in the finals in fall 2027 and Youmacon 2027 will host the USA preliminary for ICL 2028. We will still be holding preliminary rounds for Cosplay World Masters and Pop Culture Hiroshima in 2026.
Information on Cosplay at Youmacon
General Cosplay Rules
— No metal weapons, real firearms, or anything that fires projectiles are allowed. Please read the Prop and Prop Weapons Policy for full details on what is and isn’t allowed.
— Props should be carried and posed with in a way that does not inconvenience or risk injury to other attendees.
— Costumes must be tasteful and cover appropriate areas of the body. Shoes must be worn in public areas of the convention for your own safety.
— What is illegal outside the convention is still illegal inside the convention.
General Cosplay Contest Rules (Integrated Cosplay Contest and Hall Craftsmanship Contest)
— All the general cosplay rules above apply.
— Costumes from both Japanese and Western media are welcome in the competitions. This includes anime, games, comic books, manga or other media such as Korean media, sentai, music, J-rock, etc.
— Original designs based on established media, such as Pokemon gijinka-type designs or fanart alternative designs are permitted in competition, but specific reference images must be provided. Original characters regardless of media are not permitted. The international contests do not allow original designs or gijinka of any kind, but CWM allows all Sakizo designs.
— Entrants must be registered attendees of Youmacon and present a badge at cosplay check-in.
— Participants must fill out a cosplay registration form with legitimate information for award purposes.
— The use of Generative AI in contest entries is strictly prohibited. This includes but is not limited to AI generated build books, performance audio/video assets, character art, 3D print files, performance scripts, sewing patterns, etc. If you would like clarification on if a specific tool is considered Generative AI and not allowed, please email cosplay@youmacon.com.
— Participants’ costumes and props must be able to traverse a 3’ wide standard doorway.
— Groups may not exceed 8 people.
— No jumping onto or off the stage or acrobatics.
— No throwing items off the stage.
— Clean up after yourself. Do not leave anything behind on the stage.
— No surprises.
— No racist symbols or depictions are allowed including swastikas, black face, etc. If a character design includes a symbol like a swastika, leaving it out or replacing the symbol will not affect your accuracy score
— Costumes or skits that have won a major award (Novice, Journeyman, Master, Best in Show, etc) at other events are ineligible to win another award at the same skill level. You must enter the next skill level up. You must have made improvements or changes provable by before and after photos presented in your progress binder to re-enter a costume with a category award or higher. Prior awards must be disclosed to the judging panel.
COSPLAY COMPETITION
Integrated Cosplay Contest (Masquerade/International)
— The Integrated Cosplay Contest is a Saturday evening Main Event consisting of skit performances and craftsmanship presentations. The ICC also houses the International cosplay contests. Cosplayers can enter for performance, craftsmanship, or both, but only those entering BOTH categories are eligible to win Best in Show. Those entering for craftsmanship can model their costume in front of an audience during the walk-on portion of the ICC.
— The Best in Show winners (those who excel in BOTH craftsmanship AND performance) will win $500 (for the group, not per person), FREE ADMISSION to Youmacon 2027 plus a fabulous trophy. Those winning in Best Craftsmanship and Best Performance will also win $250 (for the group) as well as a fabulous trophy. Those who win the best in their respective categories will also receive a fabulous trophy.
— The International prizes available are Cosplay World Masters (CWM): a trip to Lisbon, Portugal for one solo cosplayer. Pop Culture Hiroshima (PCH): a trip to Hiroshima, Japan for one pair (duo) of cosplayers.
— In addition to the trophies and cash prizes, winning entrants will also receive prizes from our contest sponsors (sponsors differ from year to year and will be announced on the website/social media/at the masquerade).
International Contest Info
— Youmacon is excited to be the host of the USA preliminaries for three International cosplay contests/events: Cosplay World Masters, an international cosplay contest with finals held in Libson, Portugal, for a solo cosplayer for craftsmanship and performance. Pop Culture Hiroshima, a cosplay international cultural exchange held in Hiroshima, Japan, for a duo of cosplayers for craftsmanship and performance.
— ICC entrants can opt-in for international awards without losing the eligibility to compete for Masquerade awards. The international judging panel will be one and the same with the Masquerade craftsmanship judging panel.
— Entrants may enter both the International Preliminaries and Youmacon Masquerade with the same costume and presentation. The events are integrated which means entrants will be able to opt in for international awards while still being considered for Youmacon Masquerade awards.
— Although entrants can opt in for all applicable awards, International winners can only win the one award between the two. For example: one individual entrant cannot win Youmacon’s Best in Show and an international solo award. The judges will determine which contestant will receive each award. Additionally, entrants can win awards for both Masquerade Craftsmanship and Performance if they enter both. Youmacon has two panels of judges for the Integrated Cosplay Contest (one panel for craftsmanship/international, and one panel for performance).
— Both international contests require a stage presentation.
— All contestants entering for CWM SOLOS are required to have a stage presentation of at least 90 seconds in length and no longer than 2:00.
— All contestants entering for PCH are required to present a stage presentation that is 2:30 in length.
— CWM requires that costumes entered have no prior awards. You cannot enter something into CWM that has been reworked if it has won an award. It must be a new costume or costume with no prior awards.
— Please read the rules for each individual contest on their separate pages on the Youmacon website.
Hall Craftsmanship Contest
— The Hall Craftsmanship Contest gives cosplayers a chance to get their craftsmanship judged without the pressures of an audience. This is also a chance to get additional costumes judged. The Hall Contest is craftsmanship only, and competitors do not to appear on stage during the Integrated Cosplay Contest. You may enter Hall with one costume per day and enter a completely different costume in the Integrated Cosplay Contest as well. One craftsmanship award can be won per costume, meaning one person can enter three different costumes and win three craftsmanship awards. (ie Friday Hall craftsmanship, Saturday Hall craftsmanship, and an ICC award).
— Registration form(s) for the Hall Contest must be submitted in order to obtain a judging time slot. Judging slots may be available for at con sign ups but are not guaranteed.
— Please see the Craftsmanship rules below; the same rules apply to the Hall contest.
— Costumes in the Hall Craftsmanship Contest must be able to traverse a 3’ standard door frame.
— Hall Contest awards will be announced at the end of the ICC.
— Hall Contest participants may watch the ICC from the Green Room (Grand Riverview Ballroom B, room subject to change) if they wish. Those who do not wish to watch the ICC may check in with us in the Green Room periodically to find out when awards will be announced. You may also watch the ICC from the audience.
Show Info
— The Integrated Cosplay Contest will be held at 5pm on Saturday in Grand Riverview Ballroom A (time and room subject to change).
— ICC participants should be at the Grand Riverview Ballroom A at 2:30pm for performance and Grand Riverview Ballroom B at 4pm for craftsmanship only (time and room subject to change) with their badges for dress/tech rehearsal.
— While waiting for the ICC to start, drinks and snacks will be provided for participants. Once the ICC begins, participants will be guided to the stage for their walk-on or performance. Once they are finished on stage, they will return to the Green Room to await awards.
— Awards for both Hall Craftsmanship Contest and the Integrated Cosplay Contest will be given out at the end of the ICC.
Craftsmanship
Craftsmanship Rules and Judging
— During craftsmanship judging, our judges will evaluate the quality and accuracy of the costume(s).
— Costumes must be at least 80% handmade or heavily modified by the contestant for ICC or 50% handmade or heavily modified for Hall. Youth 12 and under are exempt from this rule. If modeling someone else’s work, the person who constructed the costume MUST be present. International contests may have additional rules on percentages made by the cosplayer. Please see the contest specific rules for details.
— You must provide a reference for your costume. A picture, a figure, whatever. (We prefer paper references that we can keep.) While smartphones and tablets are great, please do NOT rely on these as your primary sources for reference photos. The judges are not familiar with every series or video game. References are needed to check accuracy. Lack of a reference will hurt your chances at winning higher awards.
— Contestants opting-in for International must present a progress book of no less than 5 pages, and no more than 30 pages. You must have at least one physical copy of your progress book.
— In regards to presenting 3D modeled items, custom printed fabrics, pepakura files, etc. If you created the file or image for these items, or if you purchased the file, please advise the judges.
— The judges WILL inspect your costume up close. Be prepared to have your costume touched and be asked to show specific details.
— Entrants will only have 5 minutes per judging session (up to 10 minutes for larger groups). So, if you have something special that you wish to highlight to the judges, make sure to point it out whether they ask you about it or not.
— The judges will ask you questions about your costume. Be prepared to answer truthfully and accurately.
— Please be respectful of the judges during your judging. Please do not include glitter, confetti, perfume, etc in your progress book or reference images. Please do not have any wet paint, excessive loose glitter, or anything else on your costume that could come off on our judges when looking at your costume. Please refrain from playing any music during your appointment, except for if your costume produces sound effects and you are demonstrating to the judges.
— Please DO NOT act in character while your costume is being judged. It is unnecessary. Save it for the stage.
— BE CONFIDENT. Please don’t tell the judges what you did wrong. They want to know all the wonderful things you did right. Remember, don’t be shy! They want to hear about all your hard work!
— Be sure to show up to your judging appointment a few minutes early in your costume. If you miss your appointment, you may be rescheduled, time permitting, no guarantees.
— Remember to try your best, be courteous, and have fun!
Skill Level Categories
Contestants will enter in one of these skill level categories:
Novice: Cosplayers with no prior awards
Journeyman: Cosplayers with 1-5 awards
Master: Cosplayers with 6 or more awards
Youth: Cosplayers age 12 and under
Categories are based on any type of previous major award, craftsmanship or presentation. Division qualifications are subject to change to ensure even award distribution. Honorable Mention/Judges awards do not count toward your skill level category.
Youmacon Non-Cosplay Department Staff may enter the cosplay contests under their respective skill levels. Youmacon Cosplay Department Staff and Youmacon Staff Leadership may not enter.
PERFORMANCE
Performance/Skit Rules
— Skits may not exceed a PG-13 rating.
— Stage combat will be allowed only if approved by the Cosplay DH after a demonstration during skit approval.
— No special effects/pyrotechnics. Electronic flashes are permitted only if okayed by Masquerade staff. An announcement will be made to attendees at the start of your skit.
— No liquids that could spill on stage.
— No live singing will be permitted.
— Skits may only include a maximum of 60% dancing if the dancing does not also include narrative storytelling. There should be a story being told. Dance only performances are encouraged to enter the YoumaPalooza IdolFest instead.
— No jumping onto or off the stage or acrobatics.
— No throwing items off the stage.
— Clean up after yourself. Do not leave anything behind on the stage.
— No surprises.
— Skits are limited to 3 set pieces and all set pieces must be less than 6ft in any dimension. Small props contained in set pieces or placed by contestants do not have a quantity limit. You are responsible for management of your items at all times. Youmacon is not liable for any broken or stolen items. You will be given a place to store them and build them on the day of the show. There will be people to bring them on and offstage. You MUST remove your items at the end of the show. We will not dispose of your items for you.
— Your friends and family can assist you in creating props and sets for the stage. However, keep in mind that if you win an international award these items will have to fly to the world competition. Do your best to keep them light and portable. Extra or oversized baggage is the responsibility of the cosplayer/team.
— There will be a screen behind the stage that can be utilized during performances. You may create a background video or still image to be on the screen during your performance. Images/videos from any source are allowed. You must get permission from the artist before using fan art material.
— Screen and stage dimensions will be given in acceptance emails.
Performance Approval
— All accepted performance entries will need to submit a prescreening video of their skit for approval.
— Cosplay staff will evaluate skits for time and content.
— You will be responsible for uploading your pre-screening video (mp4) and complete mp4 background video with embedded music file to the server linked in your acceptance email by the deadline, 09/30/2026.
— You may use official audio from your source material or record your own. But audio must be provided by you, the entrant. It is permissible to receive help creating your audio.
— You will need to perform your presentation “full out”, or as you intend to perform it onstage. If your performance is not perfect, don’t worry about it. Our screening team can also give you pointers to improve your presentation as they are experienced performers.
— Please be sure to perform all tricks/stage combat/dance/gimmicks in your video. You may surprise the audience and judges but please do not surprise our cosplay team. We must be aware of all actions happening on our stage.
— It is okay if one of the people in your skit group can’t be in the filmed version, but we ask you to have a stand in.
— You DO NOT have to be in costume for skit approval.
— If your skit is NOT approved, we WILL give you time to correct it. We love skits, and we want to give everyone a chance to participate.
— Please make note of any cues or stage directions when submitting your skit approval email. Our team will confirm again with you in person. (ie: Kuwabara starts offstage and enters with the music.)
— You must include an introduction for your skit. If you do not include one we will write one for you. The team will consult with you on this before the event.
Performance Time Limits
1 person = 2 minutes
2 people = 2:30 minutes
3 to 8 people = 3 minutes
International SOLO = 90 seconds to 120 seconds.
International DUO = No longer than 2:30.
Please note that these are guidelines and there is room for reasonable accommodation. If you have a question about your skit length or content please contact cosplay@youmacon.com
Skit Audio and Video
— All performance participants are required to pre-record audio to ensure content will not be changed and that they are able to be heard by the audience and judges. You may not sing or speak live with a microphone.
— We accept audio submissions in MP3 file format ONLY and video submissions in MP4 file format ONLY.
— If you do not wish to have a background video. You may submit a static image to be used with your audio. If you do not send an image we will have the Youmacon Logo displayed.
— All background videos must be landscape orientation, at least 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of full HD 1920×1080 pixels (1080p), and 24/25 frames per second.
— It is highly recommended for you to include supertitles of the lyrics/dialogue in the background video for your performance for accessibility reasons. Please place them along the top of the screen in an easy-to-read font and color.
— Copyrighted visuals will be allowed for 2026.
— All videos must have the audio embedded in the file.
— You must provide your audio/video to the link in your acceptance email with your screening video by the deadline of 09/30/2026.
— It is recommended you bring a flash drive with your audio in the event that a catastrophe happens and our tech files are lost.
— All of your audio/video must be fully edited and prepared before being submitted to us. We WILL NOT edit it in any way and what you give us is what we play.
— We cannot “just play a youtube video”. Don’t ask us.
— Please label the files CLEARLY with “Youmacon ICC 2026 *Insert Your Cosplayer Name.*”
Sign up
All attendees who wish to enter their costume in a contest for craftsmanship require a judging appointment. You may enter either or both Friday and Saturday Hall Craftsmanship Contests, and/or the Integrated Cosplay Contest, provided that you have a different costume for each. Again, ONLY ICC entrants will appear on stage during the Integrated Cosplay Contest on Saturday.
Signups for the contests open no sooner than 90 days before the convention.
Skits will only be taken in pre-registration format. We will no longer allow walk-up entries to perform skits. There has been an influx of entries with non-compliant audio that have to be corrected by the cosplay/tech team. Going forward all audio will be required in advance of the contest. All contestants will be responsible for making sure their audio meets our requirements.
All skit approvals will be done via video submissions. This gives participants more time to adapt their entry if any issues are presented.
Hall Craftsmanship entries may sign up either at con or in advance. ICC Craftsmanship must sign up in advance online. Online signups for Craftsmanship will close on September 1st at 7pm. Hall sign ups will continue to stay open. You are encouraged to sign-up online if you plan to participate. If, after signing up, you decide to drop out for any reason, please email the Cosplay DH to drop out. cosplay@youmacon.com
Entries for the ICC will be selected for acceptance based on percentage complete for craftsmanship and quality/strength of script for skit. Please plan to have a Google Drive/DropBox/etc folder that is viewable by anyone with the link that contains a reference image and at least 5 progress images showing percentage completed ready when submitting your application for craftsmanship. Please plan to have a detailed script or synopsis ready when applying for performance. You may also submit your audio and/or a draft prescreening video with your application if you feel a script will not properly convey your skit.
Please follow the links below to the forms for the Integrated Cosplay Contest and Hall Craftsmanship Contest:
Integrated Cosplay Contest Application SOLO (opens August 2026) Sign up >
Integrated Cosplay Contest Application DUO/GROUP (opens August 2026) Sign up >
Hall Craftsmanship Contest Application (opens August 2026) Sign up >
We will use these forms to assign judging times. A confirmation email will be sent out to each entrant with their assigned time slot. YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO CHECK-IN WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT THE CONVENTION. Please report to the Cosplay Check In Table on Level 2 of Huntington outside room 259 on Friday between 3pm and 9pm (room and times subject to change). Failure to check in will result in your spot being forfeit and made available for at-con signups. If you have extenuating circumstances that prevent you from checking in, please advise the Cosplay DH in advance and you may check in Saturday morning. We are open to working around any scheduling issues as long as we are made aware of them. Any remaining spots will be available at the convention.
Cosplay Contest Prizes Sponsored by
Cosplay Repair Room Sponsored by
