Cosplay is such an incredibly important part of our festival. We love seeing you bring your favorite characters to life though your effort, dedication, and passion!
We strive to bring you the best experience in whichever contest you chose to enter. This comes with an important caveat though; We also expect you to read up in advance on the contest you are entering so you are aware of the contest rules, format, entry deadlines, contest times, and any specific entry requirements. This point alone will allow us to have a fantastic time together!
Otafest’s Craftsmanship contest, Skit contest, and Stars of Cosplay are sponsored by The Costume Shoppe.
So you want to enter a cosplay contest, eh? The very first thing you should do is to decide on which contests you would like to enter and determine if your cosplay would qualify for entry. Read up on the contest’s rules and requirements. If you have any questions at all please, please, please email us.
Here are a few tips to help your experience be as smooth as possible:
.Hosted in Ideation Room 4
Cosplayers deserve to feel comfortable and confident. Our Cosplay Repair Station is stocked with everything you need to fix unexpected malfunctions, so you don’t have to worry about your outfit falling apart.
The cosplay events at our festival are carefully planned, administered, and implemented by our dedicated Cosplay Team. Please take note of our team so you know who to find if you have any questions!
Our festival is growing and so are our cosplayers’ time demands and skill levels. We want to provide a wide range of events with reasonable time commitments for you.
Yes, for every event except Stars of Cosplay.
We have limited time for each of our contests, and understanding that the cosplay contests are very popular events, we must have a limit on how many people can participate.
This is especially important for the Cosplay Showcase and Cosplay Fashion Show. If competing is important to you, please arrive early for registration for those events.
Late entries will not be accepted to any of our contests.
A cosplay judge may not enter the same contest that they are judging in the same year.
Judges from past events, and judges who are responsible for other contests are permitted to enter at the discretion of Otafest’s cosplay staff and will be automatically placed into the Advanced category.
For example, a Cosplay Showcase Contest judge may enter the Cosplay Fashion Show as their judging from the other event has no impact on the placements of the one they are entering, but they would not be able to enter the Cosplay Showcase Contest.
When you see a cosplay contest in the schedule, that means the show starts at that time. This means that we need time beforehand to get you and everyone else ready to begin the performance on time!
If you don’t turn up early then we can’t set up on time and the contest would be delayed. However, since there are other events following our contests in the same room, we’re forced to start at the scheduled time. This means if contestants are late we will start without them.
We don’t like turning people away so please don’t put us in that position. Pay attention to our instructions and arrive at the given set up time.
Otafest
May 16 – 18, 2025
Calgary Telus Convention Centre
120 9 Ave SE
Calgary, AB T2G 0P3
May 16 – 18, 2025
