Head to any convention around the world and you'll find yourself surrounded by passionate fans that show their love of their favorite fandoms through cosplay. It's impossible not to be impressed by cosplayers that go all out with their hand-crafted creations! ReedPop events are no exception and the Cosplay Central Crown Championships gives those cosplay artists a chance to shine on stage alongside some of the best makers from around the world.

The Crown Championships, re-launched in 2021 under the 'Cosplay Central' banner, is built on a legacy of ReedPop’s incredible international cosplay competitions held in both the UK and USA. They work with independent events around the world, in addition to their own shows, to give the competition worldwide reach. After winning at their local events, the finalists selected to represent their nation or region will head to the global final at Chicago's C2E2 to compete for the title of Crown Champion of Cosplay, a bespoke crown and a cash prize.

Race for the crown at Cosplay Central Crown Championships

The Crown Championships is a celebration of cosplay artistry. The costumes that take to the stage in Chicago are extremely complex, highly detailed, and executed with precision. Each of the finalists are already champions in their home nation so you can be sure to see some incredible costumes from passionate creators.

The competition is judged on their design skills and the construction of the costume. The stage show itself isn’t scored, (though the judges may take it into consideration for the final decision) but it’s the finalist’s opportunity to shine and proudly show off their creations to the world in front of a packed audience.

The competition on stage at C2E2 is a bumper show in three parts:

• The last USA regional qualifier
• The USA National Final where one overall USA champion will be chosen from the four regional winners
• The Global Final to choose a Crown Champion from all of the national finalists selected around the world

In 2023, Steph of Nerds Gone Mild stormed the show at C2E2, claiming victory in the C2E2 regional qualifier, taking the overall USA Champion title and ultimately taking home the Crown. Her costume of Aloy from Horizon Forbidden West blew the judges away with the attention to detail, varied and unusual materials and incredible skills displayed.

How to take part in the 2024 Cosplay Central Crown Championships

Each partner event is free to set the style and their own rules for their selection but you can check out the rules for the 2024 global final here.

With such a huge cosplay community, ReedPop selects the USA finalist in two stages – regional qualifiers across its four US events and a USA final at C2E2 ahead of the global finalists taking to the stage. Regional qualifiers for the 2024 Championship began at Emerald City Comic Con in March 2023. Florida Supercon followed in July and we can’t wait to see who will be part of the competition at New York Comic Con this October. There will be one last chance for USA cosplayers to join the circuit at C2E2 in April 2024 – look out for registrations opening in early 2024.

Down under the Crown Championships returns to PAX Aus on October 6 - 8,2023 for their 10th Anniversary edition. Cosplayers in the UK can try out for the Crown with the qualifier for the 2024 championship taking place at MCM Birmingham Comic Con in December – Registration opens October 20.

Check out our full directory of confirmed participating events:

Africa Where: Comic Con Africa, Johannesburg When: 22 – 25 September 2023 Registrations close 15 September 2023 Open to: Residents of the African continent Find out more: Comic Con Africa website

Australia Where: PAX Aus, Melbourne When: 6 – 8 October 2023 Registration closes 28 August 2023 Open to: Residents of any Australia and New Zealand Find out more: PAX Aus website

Baltic Region (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) Where: UniCon, Latvia When: 19 – 20 August 2023 Find out more: Unicon website

Poland Where: Magnificon Winter Expo, Kraków When: 2 – 3 December 2023 Registrations coming soon Open to: Residents of Poland and any country without a selection event of their own Find out more: Magnificon website

Spain Where: Japan Weekend Madrid When: 23 – 24 September 2023 Registration closes 1 September 2023 Open to: Residents of Spain Find out more: Japan Weekend website

UK Where: MCM Birmingham Comic Con When: 1 - 3 December 2023 Registration opens 20 October – 12 November 2023 Open to: Residents of UK and Ireland Find out more: MCM Comic Con website

USA 4th regional preliminary and USA National Final Where: C2E2, Chicago When: 26-28 April 2024 Registration open: Early 2024 Open to: Residents of USA, Mexico, Canada Find out more: C2E2 website

Events interested in joining the championship circuit can reach out to the ReedPop team at [email protected]

We can't wait to see who will try and claim the Crown at the Global final next year. You’ll be able to see all the action at the final unfold right here on Popverse on the livestream direct from C2E2.