It’s time to get creative—we’re now accepting entries for the BlizzCon 2019 Community Night contests!

Community Night is your opportunity to take stage center stage at BlizzCon and showcase your skill and creativity, whether you’re a crack cosplayer, maverick moviemaker, awesome artist, or have some secret epic talent you’ve been waiting to reveal to the world. It also happens to be one of our favorite nights of the year, and we can’t wait to see what you create.

This year’s contests will once again feature the Costume, Talent, Movie, and Art Contests; we’re also bringing back the Cosplay Exhibition we debuted last year for an encore.

The deadline for all entries is August 18, 2019. Make sure to read the official rules (available on the entry forms for their respective contests) before you enter; here’s a breakdown of what’s in store for each contest this year.

COSTUME CONTEST

Last year we saw our biggest entry pool for the BlizzCon Costume Contest ever, and this year we’re delighted that we can continue to provide a longer entry period to allow for more entrants.

As part of the process, we’ll be asking our entrants to submit photos and videos at several milestones prior to BlizzCon. This helps our judges manage the larger pool of entries and begin to get a feel for which costumes fit best in which categories. Note that your check-in materials will be used as part of the judging process, so keep that in mind when putting them together.

One change we’re making this year is that after your third check-in at 90% completion, our judges will select up to 50 of the strongest costumes to participate in an in-person judging session on the first full day of BlizzCon (Friday, November 1). You will be notified via email prior to BlizzCon if you are in consideration for additional judging, or if you’re being invited to participate in the Costume Exhibition. 

From that pool of entrants, our judges will ultimately select a total of 25 finalists to compete in the Community Night Costume Contest on Friday evening. These 25 contestants will be split into five categories—and at the end of Community Night, one winner in each category will be crowned. The five categories are:

  • Artisan Crafting: This category focuses on the fine details, recognizing skills that really shine close-up, such as meticulous tailoring and embroidery or intricate leatherworking details.
  • Large-scale Fabrication: This category recognizes excellence in creating costumes and props that are "larger than life," such as mechs, power armor, and so on. Please note that if you’re planning to work on something of this nature, there are size and mobility restrictions, which are detailed in the rules.
  • Weapons & Armor: This category recognizes the unique set of skills involved in crafting a battle-ready costume.
  • Group Construction: This category is for teams of three or more people who each made significant contributions to the creation of a single costume.
  • Outstanding Creation: This category recognizes costumes that are well-rounded and perfectly produced, or are outstanding in a way that does not fall into the other categories.

When you enter the costume contest, you’ll need to tell us whether your costume falls into Group Construction category.

If your costume is ultimately selected for the top 25, it’s up to our judges’ discretion to determine which one of the categories your costume will be competing in. Our judges will put you in the category they feel you have the best chance of winning.

At the time you enter, you’ll need to provide evidence that your costume is at the first milestone of roughly 25% completion. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve started construction—at this point, we’ll mostly be looking to make sure you’ve decided on your concept and have things like detailed shopping lists, sketches, or images of purchased supplies. Please remember that there is no cap on the number of entrants, so there’s no rush to submit your entry until you’ve made a final decision on what your costume will be.

Read the official rules at the contest page.

Read the official rules (PDF).

COSPLAY EXHIBITION

It would be an understatement to say last year’s Cosplay Exhibition was well received—our cosplayers walked the stage in front of a packed house! We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who took part, and we’re working on ways to refine and improve this year’s experience for participants.  

While Community Night will showcase the top 25, this exhibition will give more people an opportunity to show off their work and walk one of the stages at BlizzCon.

You’ll need to register to be considered for the exhibition. If you’d like to throw your hat into the ring, register here by selecting Cosplay Exhibition from the menu.  

Read the official rules (PDF).

TALENT, MOVIE, AND ART CONTESTS

We’re not making any significant changes to the Talent, Movie, and Art Contests this year—however, we did want to point out something related to the Talent Contest that may have flew under peoples’ radar in the past.

Most people who enter the Talent Contest do something based directly on one of Blizzard’s games or universes, and that’s great—but if you have an epic talent or act you feel would be relevant to BlizzCon but doesn’t directly reference Blizzard’s games or universes, that’s fair game too! Just make sure it doesn’t involve another company’s properties.

Please note that the art contest is limited to one entry per person this year. The entry period is longer, so please make sure that you are sure your creation is the one you’d like to compete with prior to submitting.

Read the Talent Contest rules (PDF).

Read the Movie Contest rules (PDF).

Read the Original Art Contest rules (PDF).

Remember, the deadline to enter all of these contests or register for the Cosplay Exhibition is August 18. If you have any questions, you can reach out to BlizzConContest@Blizzard.com.

Good luck, contestants—we can’t wait to see what you come up with this year!