Masquerade
Date: Saturday, August 9, 2025
Time: TBA
Place: Main Events Room (210)
You have worked hard on your costume, and you would like to show it in front of an audience? Don’t miss your opportunity at the Otakuthon Masquerade! Come show your costume to our judges, and your craftsmanship and presentation efforts just might get rewarded.
Don’t have a costume? Come admire the Masquerade and applaud the participants’ hard work!
Masquerade Rules
What is a masquerade?
A masquerade is an amateur competition of costumes that were inspired by fictional or real-life characters. It is an opportunity for anyone to show off their magnificent costumes and their superb skills in craftsmanship and creativity.
A costume can be presented in two ways: in a sketch or a parade/walk-on.
- Skit: a short performance including a mise-en-scène that highlights the costume and offers an entertainment value.
- Parade/Walk-On: a presentation where customers walk on stage, pose at centre stage showing various angles of their costume, and then exit by the opposite side.
Awards are given out for best presentation and best costumes to highlight contestants’ hard work.
How can I participate?
- First, read the rules.
- Registration for the 2025 edition will be entirely online. If needed, in-person registrations will be done as well. Online registration will be open from Saturday, June 14, 2025, at noon to Saturday, June 28, 2025, at 21:00.
- In the 48 hours following the end of the registration period (on June 30, 2025 at 21:00), people who have booked a slot will receive a confirmation email. If you receive one, it means your spot on the Masquerade is set and you do not have to stand in line on the convention’s Friday or Saturday to register. Please pay close attention to your emails, as additional information will be requested.
- IMPORTANT: An Otakuthon badge that is valid at the time of the convention is required to register online.
- By completing your online registration, you commit to participate. In case of repeated or serious offences, the Director of the Masquerade reserves the right to exclude certain people from participating.
- If the number of online registrations exceeds the number of available slots, we will add your name to a waiting list, and you will receive a confirmation email if one becomes available.
- Seven (7) days before the Masquerade, we will send an email to participants on the waiting list to confirm their interest in spots that are made available at the last minute. From this point on, only those who have responded will be contacted.
- There will be no in-person registration. Spots made available after cancellations will be filled from the waiting list.
- There are a total of 50 entries, including preregistrations. Send us your form as soon as possible!
- In order to encourage new talents, a review and sorting of registrations will be conducted to ensure a minimum of 10 entries in the novice division.
2025: PLEASE PAY ATTENTION, AS THE REGISTRATION PROCESS HAS BEEN MODIFIED.
Only the following information will be asked during the registration. We recommend that you prepare your answers in advance to facilitate your registration, with for example a copy and paste tactic.
- Email address;
- Division of entry ( Junior, Novice, Intermediate, Artisan, or Master);
- Source of the costume;
- Costume made by;
- Large or bulky costume or set (yes or no) – you will be contacted for clarification due to space constraints;
- Number of participants (maximum 6);
- Whether or not you will have an accompanying person or personal stage ninja (maximum of 1);
- Legal names and pronouns of all participants (include preferred names in parentheses if needed);
- Email addresses of all participants;
- Preferred language of communication.
Appointment scheduling for craftsmanship judging and information about the nature of your entry will be requested once your registration is confirmed.
If we do not receive a response from you regarding this second round of information collection by July 7, 2025, we will make a second attempt to contact you. After that, on July 11, 2025, at 9:00, we will consider your registration withdrawn and your spot will be given to the next person on the waiting list, whose response deadline will be adjusted accordingly.
We therefore ask that you pay close attention to your emails, including your spam or junk folders.
How does the Masquerade work?
The Greenroom step will be done on appointment only. During this step, you will notify us of your presence, have your costume judged, speak with the MC, the sound technician and the stage ninjas, and take your official Masquerade photograph. You will then be able to enjoy the rest of your day as you like, until your return right before the show.
Please note that the allotted time to present your costume to the judges will be controlled and limited (exact amount of time will be announced), and will be adjusted according to the number of participants in each group.
We will gather one hour before the Masquerade starts. From that moment on, you accept to stay in the Masquerade Greenroom.
It is important that you wear your entire costume as soon as you arrive at the Greenroom, since there might be little time to put it on before the show.
Awards Ceremony
The Masquerade award ceremony will be held on Sunday, August 10, 2025. The exact hour will be announced.
If you have questions about the Masquerade, you can reach us at masquerade@otakuthon.com.