COSPLAY CONTENDER 2025
RULES AND GUIDELINES

DESCRIPTION

Cosplay Contender 2025 is a high-energy, bracket-style cosplay competition where creativity and craftsmanship take center stage. In this fast-paced contest, cosplayers will face off head-to-head, showcasing their costumes and stage performances! There are no reference picture requirements, and the contest will focus mostly on the merit of the costume during the pre-judging portion.

There is no limit to the number of registrants. There is no limit to the number of registrants. All aspiring contestants wearing costumes of characters from various media, such as anime, manga, comic books, TV series, movies, or games, are welcome to join! In addition, their specific costume must not have won any competitions organized by Cosplay.ph in the past (2023–2025). Qualifiers for Cosplay Cup 2025 are not allowed to register for this competition.

The competition schedule is as follows:

Disclaimer

• By registering and participating in this contest, performers grant Cosplay.PH organizers/staff, sponsors, and authorized press media the right and authority to capture pictures and/or videos of registered cosplayers, teams, and their members. These media assets will become the sole property of the organizers/staff, sponsors, and authorized press media, and may be used for future publications and/or advertising promotions.
• Cosplay.PH organizers and its staff and their relatives up to the 2nd degree of affinity or consanguinity are disqualified from participating in the competition. This includes parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, uncles, or aunts, first cousins, nephews or nieces, and brothers or sisters.
• By joining the contest, you also agree to Cosplay.PH adding your email to their mailing system for marketing and promotions of future Cosplay.PH handled and organized events.

COSPLAY CONTENDER GUIDELINES

Contestants who register for the contest are expected to have read and understood these guidelines.

Below enumerates what contestants can expect during the pre-contest, contest proper and awarding process.

PRE-CONTEST

1. Cosplay Contender 2025 is open to ages 13 yrs. old and above. Only contestants who have tickets will be qualified to join.  There will be no additional registration fees to join the contest.

1. Contestants from ages 13 to 17 are allowed to join, given that they have a waiver signed by their parent/guardian; or they must be accompanied by them on the day of registration.
2. Tickets can be purchased at TicketMAX.
   

2. There is no limit to the number of registrants. There is no limit to the number of registrants. All aspiring contestants wearing costumes of characters from various media, such as anime, manga, comic books, TV series, movies, or games, are welcome to join! In addition, their specific costume must not have won any competitions organized by Cosplay.ph in the past (2023–2025). Qualifiers for Cosplay Cup 2025 are not allowed to register for this competition.

3. Contest registration starts at 11:00 AM and closes at 3:30 PM. All interested contestants must approach the contest registration table during this period.

4. Contestants will be provided with a contestant number tag upon registration, and this number tag must be worn when in the backstage area. They must be present at the holding area no later than 3:30 PM (call time) to prepare for the competition in costume.

5. Failure to arrive before the call time may be grounds for disqualification from the contest.

1. Regardless of if said contestant already has an ID number, indicating that he/she is participating in the contest.

CONTEST PROPER

TOP 16 FINALIST SELECTION PROCESS

1. Contestants will be asked to go on stage in batches of 5 and judged by a panel of judges with the following criteria:

1. Costume Craftsmanship (60%) – The amount of detail used in the costume, the proportion of costume and the use of technology in the costume.
2. Creativity (40%) – Inventiveness of costume materials and the use of special effects through creative means.

2. The Top 16 scores will be informed at 4:35 PM and will advance to the next round of the competition. Contestants are advised to stay in the backstage area until to announce the results for the top 16 contestants.

TOP 16 ELIMINATION ROUNDS

1. The Top 16 will be announced and recognized on stage.
2. The contestants will be paired off and will perform on-stage based on sequential pairing (contestant 1 and 16, contestant 2 and 15, and so forth.)
3. The first contestant will be given 30 seconds to perform on stage followed by the second contestant, who will similarly be given 30 seconds to perform.
4. Based on these performances, a distinct panel of judges composed of Cosplay.ph officials and members of its community, will judge the contestants with the following criteria in mind:

1. Costume Quality (50%): Faithfulness to the source material as well as the quality of details, difficulty, durability and mobility of the costume
2. Performance (50%): Overall entertainment value of the stage performance, including projection, facial expression, as well as the quality, creativity and originality of the skit.

5. Each judge will announce their scores and declare their chosen winner. The contestant who is declared the winner by a majority of the judges will advance to the next round and face the winners of the next match. The other contestant is eliminated from the contest.
6. The winners will continue to advance until the Final 4 whereupon all 4 contestants will perform on-stage together in succession, with each Final 4 finalist being given 1 minute to perform. At this point, all 4 finalists will be scored through the judging criteria below and ranked based on their highest, average total scores.

1. Costume Quality (40%): Faithfulness to the source material as well as the quality of details, difficulty, durability,y and mobility of the costume
2. Performance (50%): Overall entertainment value of the stage performance, including projection, facial expression, as well as the quality, creativity, and originality of the skit.
3. Overall Impact (10%): How impressive their overall performance was for the elimination rounds as well as how well they elicited positive reactions from the audience.

7. The contestant with the highest score in the Top 4 will win 1st Place, and the second highest score will be declared the runner-up.

AWARDING

(see: Awards)

At the end of the event, the scores will be tabulated and the highest average score based on the given category criteria will be given awards.

1. The awarding ceremony will happen at 5:45 PM. Ensure that the contest team is able to reach you with the registered phone number you have provided if you are our winner.

1. The winners will be contacted 20-30 minutes before the awarding ceremony and must respond to the contest team within 10 minutes after the text message is sent to confirm they have received the message. 

1. If there is a compelling reason for the cosplayer not to be present during the awarding ceremony, they will be required to inform an organizer beforehand and provide a proxy for themselves during the awarding ceremony.

2. The contacted winners must be present at the contest table by the time prescribed in the text message.

2. After the awarding ceremony, the winners will be escorted by a contest team representative to claim their cash prizes.

REGISTRATION

Contest registration is available online and on-site.

ONLINE REGISTRATION

Online registrations will be open until the form closes on July 18, 2025. Interested contestants are encouraged to register online to secure a slot.

To pre-register online, please click HERE. Competitors must provide the following details:

1. The contestant’s real name;
2. The contestant’s stage name;
3. The contestant’s birthday and age;

1. Contestants who are ages 13 to 17 are allowed to join, given that they have a waiver signed by their parent/guardian or they must be accompanied on the day of the registration.

4. The contestant’s working (mobile phone AND email) and emergency contact details;
5. The contestant’s cosplay details, including name of the characters and the series the characters are from.

1. Original characters are NOT allowed to join the contest, but Cosplay Mash-up of characters are allowed (ie. Goku/Batman or Samurai Sailormoon) and gender-bend costumes (ie. Male Elsa or Female Mario) are allowed and encouraged.

For on-site contest registration, contestants may approach the registration table on Day 1 of ACX 2025 (July 19, 2025) and complete a form like the online registration (details above). On-site registrations will open should there be remaining slots available.

The information above must be truthful; falsifying any of the information will result in instant disqualification and the cosplayer will not be allowed to join the succeeding year's competition as an additional penalty. All registration information will be treated with strict confidentiality. Other cosplayers will not be informed whether a particular competitor has entered the contest or not.

General Contest Guidelines

1. Fanservice (i.e. yaoi, yuri, etc.) is allowed but should be “General Patronage”. Violation of the General Patronage rating as well as the following guidelines may be grounds for Cosplay.PH management to disqualify any participant on said grounds:

• Any obscenity, political messages, or endorsements.
• Hate symbols and/or speech.
• Excessive blood and gore.
• Any kind of extreme kind of fanservice (i.e. kissing, PDA, etc.) that is deemed inappropriate for minors; and
• Costumes that are too revealing (i.e. exposing private parts) are prohibited.

• Scantily clad and/or sexy costumes are allowed but not encouraged.
• Cosplay.PH organizers have the right to refuse contestants to join, at their discretion, if they deemed the costume is too revealing.

2. All costume props must be handled with utmost care and not harm his/her fellow cosplayers, event staff, and event attendees. The following materials/props are prohibited due to the potential of harming fellow cosplayers, and staff, damage to property, or risk to public health safety:

• Any kind of sharp and/or bladed objects that will be used as costume props that could cut human flesh. 
• Any kind of pyrotechnic equipment/s that will be used as costume props that could render damage to the venue and/or property.
• Any fragile material that could potentially break if mishandled, intentionally/unintentionally hit by something/someone, or used as props that could also affect the safety of staff members as well as other cosplayers (i.e. wind chimes, wine glass, etc.)
• Juuls, Vapes, or lit cigarettes are also not allowed.

3. The contests’ organizing team, Cosplay.PH’s organizers and its staff will not be held responsible for damage or injury resulting from mishandling and/or negligence of a cosplayer in his/her use of props/materials throughout the duration of the event.

4. Contestants between the ages of thirteen (13) and eighteen (18) years of age as of the event date must have their parent/s and/or legal guardian/s sign the waiver/image release form to be provided at the registration table.
5. Cosplay.PH management reserves the right to disqualify any contestant who ignores and/or violates any of the guidelines above also including but not limited to:

• Unsportsmanlike conduct towards other competitors
• “No Photography and video recording” policy (implemented at all times while at the backstage area, especially before the start of the contest)
• Unruly behavior toward other contestants, organizers, and staff
• Disregarding any given resolution by any Cosplay.PH staff to a concern by the contestant.

Judging Penalties

In addition to the judging scores, penalties will be applied on the following rule infractions:

1. Exceeding Time Limit (10% Infraction): For every one (1) minute or fraction thereof that the performance exceeds the time limit of one (1) minute, a 10% score deduction will be applied.
2. Unsportsmanlike Conduct (10% Infraction): For actions that are demeaning to the organizers, staff, or judges or that incite conflict in the competition, a 10% score deduction will be applied. If this unsportsmanlike conduct continues, it may result in disqualification and ejection from the venue grounds.

• Multiple cases of unsportsmanlike conduct or willful defamation of character of any of the organizers, staff, judges, or fellow competitors will result in a year-long suspension from any events organized by Cosplay.ph.

3. Intentional Violation of Contest Rules (20% Infraction plus 1-Season Suspension): For proven cases of cheating, dishonesty and sabotage, a 20% score deduction will be applied. In addition, the offending contestant will be given a 1-Season Suspension where they will be unable to join the competition for the remainder of the competition as well as the next year's competition.

Cosplay Contender Judges’ decisions are final and cannot be appealed.

Awards

At the end of the event, the scores will be tabulated, and the highest scores based on the criteria will be declared the winners. Additionally, the following winners are guaranteed a slot for Cosplay Mania 2025’s Cosplay Cup:

• Overall Champion - ₱1000 worth of cash + merch + certificate
• Runner Up - ₱500 worth of cash + merch + certificate

Rules are subject to change and revision without prior notice.

For any inquiries regarding Cosplay Contender, please contact us at: hello@cosplay.ph

The Cosplay Contender Rules and Guidelines are the sole property of Cosplay.ph® and Cosplay Philippines®.

The guidelines cannot be copied and/or replicated and/or reproduced for any other event and/or contest without the consent and/or permission from its parent owners.