Sad news for cosplayers all over the world as yet another major event has been taken from us due to COVID-19.
In an announcement letter posted to their official website on Friday, June 12th, the executive board of the World Cosplay Summit revealed that this year’s cosplay championship is canceled and will be replaced with an online event. They will hold the new online event on August 1st and 2nd, with details being revealed in a special online broadcast streaming on July 1st, 2020. We will share more details of the online event after they are revealed.
The World Cosplay Summit (or WCS) is an international cosplay competition which has been running annually since 2003. Growing in size every year since its inception, 2019 was by far the largest year with representatives from 40 different countries and territories traveling to Japan to attempt to take home the grand prize and be crowned as the best cosplayers in the world.
In 2019, the grand prize winners were the duo from Australia, with the United States and France following up in second and third place, respectively. The record for most wins by country belongs to both Brazil and Italy, with three wins each. Japan is right up there in the conversation though, with two grand prize wins.
The competition is held every year in Nagoya, with related events held in various locations in the Kanto, Kansai, and Tokai areas. This event is generally seen as a huge deal every year, with even the mayor of Nagoya getting into the spirit every year and donning a simple cosplay to welcome the competitors from around the world.
This is obviously a sad blow for cosplayers around the world, but we’re all hopeful that the WCS can bounce back next year stronger than ever after we get past this crisis!
