Deutsche Cosplay Meisterschaft

Deutsche Cosplay Meisterschaft (abbr.: DCM, english= German Cosplay Championship) is the national tournament for cosplay in Germany. DCM aims to promote cosplay and represent the cosplay community in Germany.Über uns, accessed 23.11.2012
==History==
Cosplay has its place on Frankfurt Book Fair since 2002 and in 2007 the organizers at Frankfurt Book fair created the DCM cosplay championship in cooporation with Germany’s largest non-profit organization for animanga fans, Animexx e.V. The preliminaries are organized by Animexx e.V. and take place on selected events and conventions across the country to ensure people from all over Germany have a chance to participate (see controversies for more information and rescent developments). Organizers and jury are fans themselves and some of them are cosplayers. The championship final takes place once a year on Frankfurt Book Fair and is organized by the fair organizers.Verein, accessed 22.11.2012
Until 2009 there was one female and one male champion chosen per year. In 2010 DCM did call for cosplay pairs and chose a champion teamDCM 2010 als Paarcosplay, accessed 22.11.2012 and from then on the Championship alternated every year between pair and single championship.
In September 2010 the organizers of DCM and of the German World Cosplay Summit (WCS) Preliminaries issued a statment denying any form of rivalry between DCM and WCS, emphasizing that both competitons prioritze different aspects of cosplay, the organizing teams were in fact on good terms and were working for the common goal of promoting cosplay.Stellungnahme des WCS und der DCM zum angeblichen Konkurrenzverhältnis, accessed 1.12.2012Stellungnahme DCM/WCS, accessed 1.12.2012 Many German fans feel DCM priorizes craftsmanship, while WCS has a bigger interest in showmanship.
==Rules==
participating cosplayers have to be at least 16 years of age, members of the jury have to be at least 21 years old. It’s an open championship held in Germany and people from other countries can take part.
The costume worn during the preliminary round does not have to be the same as the costume worn in the final at Frankfurt Book Fair. Contestants have to give detailed reference pictures and information of the character that is to be cosplayed when signing up for the championship.
At preliminaries cosplayers have 2min for their stage performance, at the finale they’re allowed 3min on stage. This has changed over the years. (Controversies about performance length?)
All the costumes have to be made by the contestants. (In case of pairs one of the contestant can make both costumes.) To prove the costumes are indeed self-made contestants have to take photos of the sewing and progress and all remaining scraps of fabric have to be kept for inspection. Initially there was no clear rule against bought costumes, but everyone had to make a statement about all the costume parts that were bought or self-made and this information was considered by the jury to judge the work that went into the costume. In 2008 the initial winner of the Championship title, Fabian Bang, claimed his costume was completely self-made, but later it was revealed that he had bought it and not made it himself. This led to his disqualificationDCM erkennt Fabian Bang den Titel ab – Wir fragen nach den Hintergründen, accessed 22.11.2012 and a gradual change in rules in the following years.
The jury awards points for resemblance, craftsmanship, on stage performance and audience reaction.
The current rules can be found on the DCM offical site as pdf every year.Regelwerk, accessed 23.11.2012
==Championship==
===2007===
Eight preliminaries were held at Nisa-Con in Braunschweig (30.06.2007), in Düsseldorf (07.07.2007), at CosDay in Frankfurt/Main (14.07.2007), in Berlin (21.07.2007), in Munich (04.08.2007), in Ludwigshafen (04.08.2007), at ChisaiiCon in Hamburg (18.08.2007) and in Dresden (01.09.2007).DCM event information @ animexx.de
Single Champions: Karen Heinrich (kukkii-san) and Randy F. Anane (El-Randinio)DCM 2007, accessed 25.11.2012
===2008===
Eleven preliminaries were held at Hanami in Ludwigshafen (04.05.2008), at ChisaiiCon in Hamburg (17.05.2008), Comic-Salon in Erlangen (24.05.2008), in Koblenz (07.06.2008), at Japan Day Düsseldorf (14.06.2008), at NiCon in Hannover (21.06.2008), in Stuttgart (28.06.2008), in Dresden (12.07.2008), in Munich (09.08.2008), at CosDay in Frankfurt (16.08.2008) and in Berlin (30.08.2008).
Single Champions: Pierre Fröbel and Laura BirnbaumDeutsche Cosplay Meisterschat, accessed 25.11.2012
===2009===
Eight preliminaries were held at AniMuc (18.04.2009), Hanami (10.05.2009), ChisaiiCon (16.05.2009), Dokomi (30.05.2009), in Nuremberg (11.07.2009), at Ongaku Matsuri (18.07.2009), at CosDay (18.07.2009) and AnimagiC.(02.08.2009).
Single Champions: Andrei Soloviev and Daniela Barmetler
Pictures from DCM 2009.
===2010===
Eight preliminaries were held at AniMuc (11.04.2010), Hanami (09.05.2010), Dokomi (23.05.2010), at NipponCon (05.06.2010), at Comic-Salon (05.06.2010), at CosDay (24.07.2010), at Ongaku Matsuri (24.07.2010) and AnimagiC (01.08.2010).
Pair-Champions: Christina Laverna F. & Marion Michiyo-hime E. as Beatrice & Maria Ushiromiya from Umineko no naku koro ni
Second place: Stephanie “Nami” F. as Jessie &
Clarissa “Lalue” W. as James from Pokémon.Animexx Newsmeldung, accessed 25.11.2012
Some pictures from the final in Frankfurt.
===2011===
Nine preliminaries were held in Fürth (10.04.2011), at AniMuc (01.05.2011), Hanami (08.05.2011), Dokomi (12.06.2011), NipponCon (18.06.2011), Contaku (02.07.2011), Ongaku Matsuri (16.07.2011), AnimagiC (31.07.2011) and CosDay (06.08.2011).
Single Champion: Julia “Lan” G. as Drocell Cainz from Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) .
Second place: Beate “sakura_b” K. with her Sailor Moon Princess Serenity costume.Animexx Newsmeldung, accessed 25.11.2012
There were only two male finalists and so no title was awarded for male cosplayers in 2011.
===2012===
Eight preliminaries were held at AniMuc (15.04.2012), at Hanami (06.05.2012), at Chisaii, (19.05.2012), DoKomi (27.05.2012), Comic-Salon (09.06.2012), Cosday (08.07.2012), AnimagiC (29.07.2012) and Ongaku Matsuri (04.08.2012).
Champion-Pair: Anita H. & Tanja K. as Medusa and Palutena from Kid Ikarus
2. place (vice champions): Anne F. und Stephanie M. as Kyoko Sakura and Mami Tomoe from Puella Magi Madoka MagikaDCM - Offical Site, accessed 25.11.2012
===2013===
Single Champion: Stephanie W. as Lillet Blan from GrimGrimoire.
Second place: Katharina O. as Haydée Tebelin from GankutsuouAnimex-News "Gewinner des DCM-Finales 2013" , accessed 06.10.2013
Video of all 26 performances at Bookfair
===2014===
Five preliminaries were held at Animuc (27.04.2014), Hanami (04.05.2014), DoKomi (07.06.2014), CosDay² (20.07.2014) and Ongaku Matsuri (26.07.2014).
==Controversies==
In 2012 an announcement was made during the preliminaries at Ongaku Matsuri which implied that in 2013 there would be separate competitions for single and pair cosplay in the same year instead of in alternating years. This was revoked shortly after.http://animexx.onlinewelten.com/forum/thread_5401156/0/13595764205585/
In January 2013 the DCM organizers announced that in 2013 only five preliminary rounds would take place, on AniMuc, Hanami, Dokomi, CosDay and Ongaku Matsuri. (There are rumors claiming that Ongaku Matsuri wasn't considered on the intial schedule.) This led to heated discussions in the forums and across animexx, because it means a serious shift to the south/western parts of Germany with the whole northern and eastern parts of the country being left with only the Ongaku Matsuri in Berlin. (In previous years rules had emphasised that every region needed a preliminary). Various people expressed their disappointment and frustration with the decision and made it clear they felt that especially people from northern Germany felt no longer welcome to take part. The organizers claimed that the decision was due to low numbers of cosplayers registering for preliminaries in these regions and the exclusion of Animagic was due to problems with their outdoor stage in previous years.Forum: Ankündigung der DCM-Saison 2013
==Links==
DCM - Offical Site (German)
DCM - Das Magazin (offical DCM blog in German)
Deutsche Cosplay Meisterschat at German Wikipedia
Weblog entries tagged DCM at Animexx.de (mostly German)
DCM Eventinformation at Animexx.de (German)
DCM Cosplay channel at youtube
==References==
Category:German-Speaking Fandom Category:Anime_&_Manga_Fandom Category:Costuming
Category:2000sCategory:2010s