New York Anime Festival Contest

Earlier this year, New York Comic Con brought Stan Lee, Stephen King, Kevin Smith, J. Michael Straczynski, Wes Craven, Brian K. Vaughan, Jhonen Vasquez, and many, many more American popular culture icons together. This December, the organizers of New York Comic Con are going to bring the same focus and attention to Japanese pop culture with the New York Anime Festival.

But before the New York Anime Festival can launch, it needs a mascot – and the New York Anime Festival is looking for your help!

Just like the Olympics and Tokyo Anime Fair, the New York Anime Festival will feature a new mascot every year, and for its first year, Anime News Network and the New York Anime Festival have teamed up to select the New York Anime Festival's 2007 mascot.

Between now and June 15, Anime News Network and the New York Anime Festival welcome artists and anime fans from around America to think about what “Anime” and “New York City” mean to them and draw these thoughts into an original character. Whether it's big, small, a towering mecha, or chibi, we want to see your entries!

Once all the entries are in, Anime News Network and the New York Anime Festival will be selecting ten finalists and showing them to a selection of anime industry experts and professionals, giving each a vote for their favorite. But you get a vote, too! ANN will be posting all ten finalists for all of you to vote for the mascot you like the best, too. The winner of the ANN poll will get a vote. Each anime professional will get a vote. On July 6, the anime industry professional and ANN votes will be tallied and the winner will be revealed!

Sounds good? What are the rules?

1. Contestants must be 18 years of age. If under 18, contestants must have received permission from a parent/guardian.
2. Each contestant may submit one entry only.
3. All entries must be original characters created by the contestant.
4. Submissions must be JPEG or TIFF.
5. Submissions must be at least 300 dpi.
6. Submissions must include your full name, e-mail address, phone number, and your character's name.

   What about the prizes?

   The creator of the winning New York Anime Festival mascot will take home 10 weekend passes to both the 2007 New York Anime Festival and 2008 New York Comic Con (along with an Anime Festival shirt and all the other swag the mascot appears on). The nine other finalists will each receive a weekend pass to the New York Anime Festival. And, after the contest is over, each and every contestant will receive a coupon for $5 off a ticket to the New York Anime Festival. Everybody wins!

   So, break out the pencils, fire up the Photoshop, read through the official rules, and start thinking about the New York Anime Festival mascot! Send your submission to [email protected] (nyafmascot at animenewsnetwork.com)!

   Official Rules