Here are the details of the Official Year of Dresden Cosplay Contest!
AWARDS
1 BEST COSPLAY Grand Prize: ARC of Peace Talks and 12”x18” print of the Mika Kuloda illustration of their choice, both signed by Jim Butcher
1 BEST PHOTOGRAPH OR PHOTOMANIPULATION Grand Prize: ARC of Peace Talks and 12”x18” print of the Mika Kuloda illustration of their choice, both signed by Jim Butcher
3 BEST COSPLAY Runners-Up: 12”x18” Mika Kuloda art print, signed by Jim Butcher
As Many Honorable Mentions As We See Fit in Both Categories: Eternal Glory and Bragging Rights
HOW TO ENTER
Email the file to yearofdresden@gmail.com. Accepted file types are jpg, and png. Must be under 30MB.
Please include your name and pronouns and which category you’re competing in, as well as the names of the other folks involved in the photograph: if you’re the cosplayer, give the name of the photographer and anyone else in your group, or if you’re the photographer/photomanipulator, give the name(s) of the cosplayer(s). These doesn’t have to be your/their real names–just the names you’d like to be credited as. Please include a link to everyone’s portfolios (if you/they have one), and your country (mostly for the prize tier thing, but also because we’re nosy).
Submissions are due May 12th, 2020 at midnight Pacific time.
Winners will be announced May 19th.
RULES
This contest is open to fans at all skill levels, professional and amateur alike! We’d love to see entries from all around the globe, but for legal reasons, regretfully we can only send physical prizes to residents in the United States. Therefore, international entries are eligible for Honorable Mentions, but not for the other prize tiers.
The Best Cosplay Award is given to the person primarily responsible for assembling the costume. If all your elements are store bought or commissioned, no worries, you’re still eligible! If you handmade any pieces, be sure to note that and let us know a few details about the construction, so we can fully appreciate your awesomeness.
Cosplayers can submit up to 6 images per cosplay/group. If you’ve done multiple costumes, you can submit up to 15 images total across all cosplays. So yes, if you’ve done 15 different Dresdenverse costumes, you can submit one image of each! Though please keep in mind that entries will be judged individually on quality of the costume and faithfulness to the character’s aesthetic and energy, so quantity of costumes is NOT an advantage.
Cosplays do not have to have been created or photographed specifically for this contest—you may submit prior work.
Group cosplays are welcome, but please keep in mind we have only one ARC to give away per category, so you’ll have to share. If you are the cosplayer, you must have the permission of the photographer, and if submitting a group cosplay, you MUST have the permission of everyone in the group. And again, costumes will be judged on overall quality, so quantity of people involved is also NOT an advantage.
The Best Photograph or Photomanipulation Award is given to the photographer or digital artist who created the final image. Entries will be judged on the artistic merit of the image, including lighting, composition, and direction of the cosplayers, and if a photomanipulation, the seamlessness of the integration. Photomanipulators must identify the sources of any portions of the image they did not create. You may submit up to 10 images, though again, quality will be judged over quantity.
In both categories, please keep entries at or below an “R” rating. Pornographic, abusive, or excessively vulgar entries will be disqualified.
RESPECT ARTISTS
This contest is all about elevating the incredible artists who make this fandom a vibrant, thriving creative community. To that end, we want to show our admiration by respecting their rights and not taking advantage of free labor. In submitting to this contest, participants give us permission to post their submissions WITH attribution on our website and various social media platforms, but the images remain the artists’ property. We make no claim on the images and will not repurpose them for merchandise, media tie-ins, or other use without securing additional permissions from the artist and negotiating additional compensation. Because y’all are awesome and deserve nothing less.