Take the Stage

1. Overview
   Welcome to Take the Stage! Animethon is heading to its 31st year now, and Take the Stage is also into its 8th event. For those of you that do not know what Take the Stage is, it is a talent competition where people ranging from singing to dancing, compete to take home the top awards.
2. Contest Format
   1. Contestants are encouraged to pre-register online for Animethon’s Take the Stage, as only a maximum of 40 entries will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. Pre-registration will close on August 9th, 2024 OR when the limit of 40 entries has been reached and accepted.
   2. Preliminaries for Animethon’s Take the Stage will take place during the convention (Saturday August 10th). Only contestants present for the preliminaries may advance to the finals. Please let the coordinator know if you have any preference for the time of your performance. If you are not present when called at the preliminaries for your designated time, you will be disqualified unless you have given the coordinator a 24-hour notice.
   3. Contestants are to perform for 3 minutes maximum (an excerpt of your complete performance) for the preliminaries to highlight your skills and talents. During the preliminaries, if you exceed the 3-minute limit, the panelists will conclude your performance. In light of low attendance this will be more flexible. If you do so desire, you may choose a different routine/song to perform in the finals so long as the talents being highlighted are the same.
   4. There will be up to 10 Finalists chosen. Performances should be a minimum of 3 minutes and a maximum of 6 minutes for the finals. Performances outside of these timelines will be docked points.
   5. All Finalists are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to come in 60 minutes early in order for soundchecks. If you are going to be late, please inform takethestage@animethon.org.
   6. Take the Stage Finals will last approximately 1 hour, with an additional 30 minutes maximum for judging. It will take place on Sunday August 11th 2024. Check-in 60 minutes prior to the start of event.
   7. The names of the finalists will be posted at the Information Desk (Edmonton Convention Centre Assembly Level) shortly after the preliminaries and finalists will receive a confirmation email. The winners of Take the Stage will be announced at the closing ceremony, and may be asked to perform once more at the closing ceremony. Contestants must be present to accept the awards.
   8. Winners of Take the Stage will be recognized with the following awards:
      • Master of the Stage Award
      • Spotlight Award
      • Fan Favourite Award
   9. Audience members will also be able to take part in the judging process.
3. Scoring Metrics
   There are 3 aspects of your performance that the judges will score you on:
   • Musical Quality: For singers and instrumentalists, this is your ability to maintain the correct pitch and rhythm. For dancers, it is your ability to dance to the rhythm of the music.
   • Technique: Contestants are scored on how much skill is displayed on stage. Please note that more difficult songs/routines will naturally score higher in this category when comparing contestants of similar skill.
   • Showmanship: This is basically how you carry yourself on stage. Hand gestures, movements showing emotion for slow songs, audience interactions and such all fall into this category.
4. Rules
   1. Contestant must be a registered convention attendee on the days of the preliminaries and finals in order to participate.
   2. In the event of a cancellation or no-show at the preliminaries, parties present who did NOT pre-register for the competition may be allowed to participate until the maximum limit of 40 accepted entries has been reached.
   3. Take the Stage currently only accepts singers, instrumentalists, and dance groups/dance individuals as contestants. While you are welcome to cosplay during your performance, contestants that plan on dancing or doing a musical act with costumes as a part of a skit should participate in the Cosplay Contest instead.
   4. Only applicable to instrumentalists. Only portable instruments are allowed on stage. A portable instrument is defined as a lightweight instrument that can be easily carried by the performer, and one that only requires a microphone to project its sound on stage. Due to time constraints, electric instruments such as electric guitars that require to be plugged into the onsite sound system are not allowed.
   5. Singing and instrumental performances are limited to either solo, duo (2 people) or trio (3 people). Non-singing backup dancers are also permitted, but performances of any kind can only have up to a maximum of 5 members.
   6. You or any other member in your group or performance can only enter once. (i.e.: You cannot enter the competition as part of a group and then as a solo entry, or as a member of multiple groups).
   7. Songs must be from anime, anime inspired, created for a video game and/or have a strong association interest of the community. Please email the coordinator at: takethestage@animethon.org to confirm your song choice if you are unsure. Examples:
      • “Change The World” by V6 is from Inuyasha (acceptable)
      • “Enemy” by Imagine Dragons from Arcane (acceptable)
      • “Bad Apple” by Nomico/Christina Vee from TouHou (acceptable)
      • “The World is Mine” by Ryo f/Hatsune Miku (acceptable -Sega, character design, had a dance party at Athon for the 25th)
      • “Painkiller” by Judas Priest (not acceptable as are most songs from the Rockband/Guitar hero since they are licensed)
   8. Only applicable to singers and instrumentalists. Each contestant is encouraged to prepare 2 songs in order to avoid potential duplicates in the competition. You may perform one song for preliminaries and another for finals should you become a finalist. Please indicate which song is preferred.
   9. Confirmed pre-registered participants have until one week before the start of Animethon (Friday, August 2nd 2024) to change their performance songs or routines for the preliminary round. After that no changes will be accepted. Please email the coordinator at: takethestage@animethon.org to confirm your song choice and explain the time mark you plan to start and end for the preliminaries. (Note: You will be performing the full song if you get into the finals, so please provide us a full song.)
   10. For performers that register via the walk-in process, please make sure that your song of choice has an instrumental version available online. An easy way to tell (besides Googling) is to search for song name + “instrumental” on YouTube.com. Singing along with the original vocals is NOT allowed. Should you be going on to the finals we will need to be able to have a MP3 in some form (sent via e-mailed, uploaded to flash drive or a link).
   11. Performances shall contain absolutely no profanity, nudity, or overly-violent content as all performances shall be family-friendly. No exceptions. This includes lyrical content as well. Any violation of this rule will result in disqualification and, depending on the severity of the violation, possible removal from future contest performances with Animethon.
   12. Devices such as flash bombs, any kind of pyrotechnic device, or any type of device that causes staining, damage, or a large scattering of objects (ex. confetti) are prohibited. Scattering of some objects is allowed, but the cleaning up of said objects will cut into your 6 minutes limit. Using fire and liquids on stage are prohibited. Smoke related special effects are prohibited.
   13. Permission is granted to Animethon to use any photographs/videos taken as future promotion material for future events and dealings. Secondary Media coverage may be present at the event. All media captured by Secondary Media will be under their rules and regulations of fair media usage and not that of Animethon’s.
   14. All entries and performances are required to comply with all of Animethon’s Polices, which include those that apply to any weapons and props that are used in the performance.
5. How to Pre-Register for the Contest
   Pre-register via the website using the Take the Stage Sign-Up Form. The form will ask you for basic information such as your name, contact information, type of performance, etc. Once signed up, you will receive a confirmation e-mail as well as if we have any questions for you, we will contact you by e-mail.