Cosplay Competitions of 2025

Performance contest — Cosplay Musical!

The application period for the contest is open from June 28 to July 28, 2025.
The applications sent outside of the application period are automatically disqualified. 

The contestants will be chosen in the order they applied in. If the amount of applications exceeds the amount of contestant slots in the contest, the applications will go through preliminary qualifications.  

In the premilinary qualifications, a jury of Kotae Expo’s organizers will choose the performances with the most potential based on the applications. The rest of the contestants have a chance to get in the contest in case of a cancellation. 

In the application, we ask general information about the performance and its execution. Take your time with the application and fill it carefully.  

It’s possible to send the judges a written file prior to the competition, where the contestant(s) tell about their performance and making it. The contestants will get more information about this via e-mail after the contestants have been chosen.  

You can take part in the competition as a solo contestant or a group. The group can have a maximum of 10 contestants. All of the contestants compete in the same competition. There’s no separate categories for soloists and groups.  
The minimum length of the performance is 2 minutes and the maximum length is 4 minutes. 
The performance should involve elements from musicals such as rhythmic movement like dancing and singing. The Greatest Showman “The Otherside” scene of The Greatest Showman is a great example.  If these elements are missing it will affect the judging negatively. 
You can’t take part in the competition with the same performance that the same group or contestant has previously placed in in another competition. 

The contestants are required to take part in stage rehearsals as well as a photoshoot, according to a schedule provided by the cosplay manager. The contest will be held on saturday, on the main stage and the results will be announced right at the end of the competitions. 

The cosplay costumes used in the performance won’t be judged separately on the day of the competition. Therefore store-bought costumes are allowed in the competition. The costumes however will be evaluated based on how they affect the overall look and the performance as a whole. The most important thing is that the characters are recognizable.

The contestant will provide a reference picture of the costume in the application. Even though the costumes aren’t pre-judged, the judges will have to be able to evaluate if the characters are recognizable.

There aren’t any restrictions on the country of the source material, as long as it’s a licensed source, e.g. series, movies, games or books. The original source doesn’t have to be an existing musical, you can create your own! 

The characters in the performance should be from a licensed source. Own designs or original characters (OCs) aren’t allowed. Small adjustments to the costumes for the sake of the performance are allowed, such as adding glitter for a more glamorous, musical-like look, as long as the character is still recognizable. 

It is allowed to use easily moveable stage props as part of the performance.
The maximum number of stage props is four. Stage props are props that the stage foxes (competition volunteers) carry to the stage at the beginning of the performance and/or off the stage after the performance. 

The contestant is responsible for the durability of the stage props, not the stage personnel. Information about the possible stage props must be given before the deadline, which will be set at a later date. 

It’s not allowed to pour any powders, glitters or liquids (like fake blood) on the stage. Mess on the stage should be kept at minimum and the Cosplay Competition organizer should be informed beforehand of any props that are going to be left on the stage.

Tech

It’s recommended that the provided audio is an mp3 file. If the performance also includes a video, it should be on the same file as the audio. Please make sure that the audio on the video is as high quality as possible. 
The audio or video doesn’t have any copyright restrictions. 
The music/video doesn’t have restrictions on the country of origin, and it doesn’t have to be royalty free. This allows for the usage of sound, footage and images from anime, movies and games.
It however isn’t allowed to use AI generated footage or edit the video using AI generators. In unclear situations, the organizers of Kotae Expo might ask a contestant to provide the sources of their footage or otherwise show the work steps of their digital work.

It’s not possible to use microphones on your performance, so make sure that your audio track includes your possible spoken lines.  

The contestants will get an e-mail about how to provide their wishes for tech and lights, as well as their sound/video files. They will also be provided with additional information about the form that has to be filled before the competition, which collects information for the judges about the process of creating your performance.

Kotae Expo’s cosplay team reserves the rights to change any of these rules.