Gore Galore Costume Extravaganza Contest Guidelines

Colorado Festival of Horror (COFOH) Costume Contest Guidelines

Costume Guidelines

• Cosplay must be at least 60% built by the cosplayer.
• If you are a model, that is okay but must be disclosed to the judges and the builder must be present to be considered for judging.
• Children under 13 may have help from an adult with their build and still qualify as long as they were involved during the process.
• Store-bought or pre-made costumes with less than 50% alterations or additions will not be considered. Tearing a shirt and adding gore is less than 50% even if it’s everywhere.
• Store-bought or pre-made items that are allowed: wigs, notions, belts, shoes, and jewelry. Other items and accessories will be at the discretion of the judges.
• 3D-printed items should be original designs or show some elements of “hand touches” from the cosplayer.
• Build Books (physical, digital, or social media account) are welcome but not mandatory.

Competing with Previous Costumes or “Sandbagging” policy

• Costume must not have won any awards in previous COFOH competitions.
• Costume must not have won any awards in any other cosplay competition in the last 12 months.
• Costumes must not have participated in past COFOH events without significant changes/upgrades since last showing.

Competing with Previous Costumes or “Sandbagging” policy

• Costume must not have won any awards in previous COFOH competitions.
• Costume must not have won any awards in any other cosplay competition in the last 12 months.
• Costumes must not have participated in past COFOH events without significant changes/upgrades since last showing.

General Rules

• NO REAL WEAPONS of any kind including but not limited to: blades of any size or style, firearms, bows, darts, arrows, power tools, bullets, clubs/bats, barbed wire, explosives, open flames, smoke effects, or pyrotechnics of any kind.
• No Real Bones or Real Blood or any other kind of gore that was once a piece of a living thing. Everything needs to be faux and leave no mess. Hair, fur, and leather are fine.
• No messy or hazardous elements. We love (fake) blood and gore but be aware of any drips, smears, or sparks. Beware of stains and clean up after yourself. We don’t want any spritz, squirts, or flares of any kind.
• No loose glitter or confetti. Not only is it annoying, it is a slip hazard.
• Stilts policy: for safety, cosplayers in stilts needs to walk in front of the stage instead of going onto the stage. Please keep stilts to no more than 18 inches.
• No Nudity or exposed bathing suit bits. Keep nipples and butts on all genders in line.
• Pg-13+ to R-light rating. This is horror event but it’s still all-ages so keep that in mind with all choices in your cosplays and your stage performances.
• Cultural appropriation is not allowed. Folk monsters and elements should be done in a respectful manner to the culture they are from. Costumes must not use sacred, spiritual, or stereotypical elements of any culture purely for aesthetic effect. If you are using a spiritual/religious character from a film it needs to be clear by your craftsmanship choices to be excepted from this rule, this includes but is not limited to chin-lines and other tribal marks, voodoo, Roma/Romani, and mummies. Do not use makeup to change your ethic appearance aka blackface, yellowface, redface, brownface. Other forms of body paint are fine, just be respectful. Hate symbols are strictly prohibited like Nazi, KKK, and other known dogwhistles.

Judging and what Judges will be looking for

• All Costumes and levels are welcome. We love the fandoms, the Original Characters, and Character Crossovers. All costume genres are welcome, but 1st–3rd place prizes will be awarded to the best HORROR-THEMED cosplays as chosen by the judges. Judges’ Choice and Honorable Mention are open to all contestants.
• Judges are looking for craftmanship, creativity, and execution. Judges don’t just want things that look cool but also want to know how you did it to make it so cool.
• Each contestant will be given up to 2 min before the stage show to tell the judges about their builds, character, etc.
• Each contestant will give the host something to say about their character for the stage walk.
• Each contestant will be given 1 min on stage to show off their builds and all its features. This is the moment to be in character.

COFOH reserves the right to change or modify any policy or rule at any time and without notice.

Have a question? Drop us a line at info@cofestivalofhorror.com or contact us via social media.